Effect of Heat and Electricity Storage and Reliability on Microgrid Viability:A Study of Commercial Buildings in California and New York States

摘要

In past work, Berkeley Lab has developed the Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM). Given end-use energy details for a facility, a description of its economic environment and a menu of available equipment, DER-CAM finds the optimal investment portfolio and its operating schedule which together minimize the cost of meeting site service, e.g., cooling, heating, requirements. Past studies have considered combined heat and power (CHP) technologies. Methods and software have been developed to solve this problem, finding optimal solutions which take simultaneity into account. This project aims to extend on those prior capabilities in two key dimensions. In this research storage technologies have been added as well as power quality and reliability (PQR) features that provide the ability to value the additional indirect reliability benefit derived from Consortium for Electricity Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS) Microgrid capability. This project is intended to determine how attractive on-site generation becomes to a medium-sized commercial site if economical storage (both electrical and thermal), CHP opportunities, and PQR benefits are provided in addition to avoiding electricity purchases. On-site electrical storage, generators, and the ability to seamlessly connect and disconnect from utility service would provide the facility with ride-through capability for minor grid disturbances. Three building types in both California and New York are assumed to have a share of their sensitive electrical load separable. Providing enhanced service to this load fraction has an unknown value to the facility, which is estimated analytically. In summary, this project began with 3 major goals: (1) to conduct detailed analysis to find the optimal equipment combination for microgrids at a few promising commercial building hosts in the two favorable markets of California and New York; (2) to extend the analysis capability of DER-CAM to include both heat and electricity storage; and (3) to make an initial effort towards adding consideration of PQR into the capabilities of DER-CAM.