Simulating Dispatchable Grid Services Provided by Flexible Building Loads: State of the Art and Needed Building Energy Modeling Improvements

Venkatesh Chinde, Adam Hirsch, William Livingood, Anthony Florita

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus Citations

Abstract

End-use electrical loads in residential and commercial buildings are evolving into flexible and cost-effective resources to improve electric grid reliability, reduce costs, and support increased hosting of distributed renewable generation. This article reviews the simulation of utility services delivered by buildings for the purpose of electric grid operational modeling. We consider services delivered to (1) the high-voltage bulk power system through the coordinated action of many, distributed building loads working together, and (2) targeted support provided to the operation of low-voltage electric distribution grids. Although an exhaustive exploration is not possible, we emphasize the ancillary services and voltage management buildings can provide and summarize the gaps in our ability to simulate them with traditional building energy modeling (BEM) tools, suggesting pathways for future research and development.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)441-462
Number of pages22
JournalBuilding Simulation
Volume14
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-5500-73301

Keywords

  • building energy modeling
  • demand response
  • grid-interactive efficient buildings
  • heating ventilation and air conditioning
  • load flexibility
  • reduced order models
  • thermostatically controlled loads

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