Experimental investigation of a capacity-based demand response mechanism for district-scale applications

Jacques de Chalendar, Peter W. Glynn and Sally M. Benson

Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2019).

District heating and cooling systems incorporating heat recovery and large-scale thermal storage dramatically reduce energy waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Electrifying district energy systems also has the effect of introducing city-scale controllable loads at the level of the electrical substation. Here we explore the opportunity for these systems to provide energy services to the grid through capacity-based demand response mechanisms. We present both a planning approach to estimate available demand-side capacity and a control framework to guide real-time scheduling when the program is active. These tools are used to assess the technical feasibility and the economic viability of participating in capacity-based demand response in the context of a real-world, megawatt-scale pilot during the summer of 2018 on the Stanford University campus.