Robust Energy-Constrained Frequency Reserves from Aggregations of Commercial Buildings

Abstract

It has been shown that the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems of commercial buildings can offer ancillary services to power systems without loss of comfort. In this paper, we propose a new control framework for reliable scheduling and provision of frequency reserves by aggregations of commercial buildings. The framework incorporates energy-constrained frequency signals, which are adopted by several transmission system operators for loads and storage devices. We use a hierarchical approach with three levels: (i) reserve capacities are allocated among buildings (e.g., on a daily basis) using techniques from robust optimization, (ii) a robust model predictive controller optimizes the HVAC system consumption typically every 30 minutes, and (iii) a feedback controller adjusts the consumption to provide reserves in real time. We demonstrate how the framework can be used to estimate the reserve capacities in simulations with typical Swiss office buildings and different reserve product characteristics. Our results show that an aggregation of approximately 100 buildings suffices to meet the 5 MW minimum bid size of the Swiss reserve market.

29 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Data-driven Predictive Control for Unlocking Building Energy Flexibility: A Review
• An Incentive-Based Online Optimization Framework for Distribution Grids
• Combined Stochastic Optimization of Frequency Control and Self-Consumption with a Battery
• Robust MPC with data-driven demand forecasting for frequency regulation with heat pumps
• Online Stochastic Optimization of Networked Distributed Energy Resources
• Strengthening the Group: Aggregated Frequency Reserve Bidding with ADMM
• COHORT: Coordination of Heterogeneous Thermostatically Controlled Loads for Demand Flexibility
• Aggregate Power Flexibility in Unbalanced Distribution Systems
• Leveraging Two-Stage Adaptive Robust Optimization for Power Flexibility Aggregation
• Building Model Identification during Regular Operation - Empirical Results and Challenges
• Robust Optimal Control with Adjustable Uncertainty Sets
• Distributed Real-Time HVAC Control for Cost-Efficient Commercial Buildings under Smart Grid Environment
• Learning a Distributed Control Scheme for Demand Flexibility in Thermostatically Controlled Loads
• Robust Model Predictive Control with Adjustable Uncertainty Sets
• Risk-aware Scheduling and Dispatch of Flexibility Events in Buildings
• Unlocking the Potential of Flexible Energy Resources to Help Balance the Power Grid