Nationwide evaluation of potential energy savings and payback of integrated building and battery energy storage system through model predictive controls

Abstract

Building-integrated microgrids (BIMGs) are rising in popularity due to their flexibility in incorporating multiple distributed energy resources including renewable energy sources and battery energy storage systems (BESS) and their natural suitability for demand response. To date, there have been almost no studies about the effect of various climate, building type, and electricity prices on BESS's potential for peak load reduction and energy cost savings. In this study, all sixteen U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) commercial reference building types are simulated with weather data from eighty U.S. cities across all eight ASHRAE climate zones using model predictive control (MPC) algorithm and incorporating BESS and varying electricity price schemes for Intelligent Building to Battery (B2B) control. Results show that cities in colder climate zones can expect up to 3% greater cost and demand savings than in hotter climate zones; additionally, cities with time-of-use price scheme can expect up to 60% shorter payback period than those with tiered prices.