Event-driven demand response control of air-conditioning to enable grid-responsive buildings

Fast demand response capability of a grid-responsive building is of particularly high value to meet urgent power balance needs of power grids. In this study, an event-driven control strategy is proposed to effectively unlock building energy flexibility for fast demand response using building air-conditioning systems. The proposed control strategy can properly distribute the chilled water among different zones in a building to allow uniform thermal comfort compromise. Validation tests are conducted and the results show that the limited cooling supply can be distributed properly and the same indoor air temperature profiles can be achieved eventually among the indoor spaces. The power demand of the chiller plant is reduced by 170 kW (5%) by adopting the proposed event-driven control, while achieving the same comfort compromise as existing time-driven control. The average accumulated valve travel distance is also reduced by 54.6%, reducing the wear and tear of the AHU valves significantly.