Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings Technical Report Series: Overview of Research Challenges and Gaps

Abstract

These definitions are for the purposes of the Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings Technical Report Series. They may be defined differently or more generally in other contexts. Grid servicesServices that support the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity and provide value through avoided electricity system costs (generation and/or delivery costs); this report focuses on grid services that can be provided by grid-interactive efficient buildings. Distributed energy resource (DER)A resource sited close to customers that can provide all or some of their immediate power needs and/or can be used by the utility system to either reduce demand or provide supply to satisfy the energy, capacity, or ancillary service needs of the grid. Load profileA building's load profile describes when-time of day or hour of the year-the building is consuming energy (typically used to refer to electricity consumption but can also describe on-site fuel use); load shape and load curve are often used interchangeably, but all refer to the timing of energy use. Energy efficiencyOngoing reduction in energy use to provide the same or improved level of function. Demand flexibilityCapability of DERs to adjust a building's load profile across different timescales; energy flexibility and load flexibility are often used interchangeably with demand flexibility. Demand responseChange in the rate of electricity consumption in response to price signals or specific requests of a grid operator. Demand-side managementThe modification of energy demand by customers through strategies, including energy efficiency, demand response, distributed generation, energy storage, electric vehicles, and/or time-of-use pricing structures. Grid-interactive efficient building (GEB)An energy-efficient building that uses smart technologies and on-site DERs to provide demand flexibility while co-optimizing for energy cost, grid services, and occupant needs and preferences, in a continuous and integrated way. Smart technologies for energy managementAdvanced controls, sensors, models, and analytics used to manage DERs.GEBs are characterized by their use of these technologies.

Towards active buildings: Rating grid-servicing buildings

“…ABCode1 focuses on short-term storage (hours) rather than the longer seasonal storage (months) given the uncertainty to establish general initial guidelines for a variety of new buildings types and the market readiness of long-term storage solutions at scale. Nevertheless, this aligns with the timescales at which most building-level grid-services are useful to the grid, 14 that is, from minutes to day(s).…”

“…43,44 Building demand Table 1. Summary of the "potential grid services provided by demand-side management in buildings" identified in the US Department of Energy overview on grid-interactive efficient buildings; 14 besides the characteristics of the US grid, potential market size evaluation considers current valuations by their regional transmission organisations and independent systems operators into large (L), moderate (M) and small (S). Although consumers might be able to offer some grid-supporting services in the context of distribution networks, further potential can be unlocked if several join under the same umbrella in energy aggregators.…”

“…12 Nowadays, ABs are advertised as buildings that “support the wider energy system by intelligently integrating renewable energy technologies for heat, power and transport”. 13 This was not an isolated effort, but part of an emerging field that recognises the potential for buildings to support the energy infrastructure, with similar initiatives in the US under the so-called Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings, 14 among others.…”

Hierarchical, Grid-Aware, and Economically Optimal Coordination of Distributed Energy Resources in Realistic Distribution Systems

“…Specifically, H max,n ∈ R |φ| defines the apparent power limit of the corresponding VB's complex power injection and B min,n , B max,n ∈ R |φ| and P min,n , P max,n ∈ R |φ| are the VB's lower and upper energy and power bounds, respectively. The relation between the battery SoC and battery power is given by (31), where ∆t is the width of the discrete time steps. In this work, we employ the simplifying assumption that VBs have unity charge/discharge efficiencies, which avoids the technicalities around simultaneous charging and discharging, which is reasonable for VBs as explained in [45] and represents ongoing work [27,46].…”

Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings: An Introduction for State and Local Governments

“…This has the greatest impact for the grid during high-cost periods and minimizes utilization of costly generation resources.17 Neukomm et al 2019. April 2020 www.seeaction.energy.gov…”