The first field application of a low-cost MPC for grid-interactive K-12 schools: Lessons-learned and savings assessment

Ham, Sang woo; Kim, Donghun; Barham, Tanya; Ramseyer, Kent

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2023.113351

Title: The first field application of a low-cost MPC for grid-interactive K-12 schools: Lessons-learned and savings assessment

Journal Article · Sun Jul 16 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Energy and Buildings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2023.113351· OSTI ID:2326954

^[1];

^[1]; Barham, Tanya ^[2]; Ramseyer, Kent ^[3]

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Community Energy Labs, Portland, OR (United States)
Newport-Mesa Unified School District Costa Mesa, CA (United States)

K-12 schools are the largest energy consumers in the public sector, with their HVAC energy consumption representing the largest portion of their total energy use. While transitioning these schools to grid-interactive HVAC system operation through advanced controls offers significant financial and environmental benefits, and model predictive control (MPC) has been identified as a promising solution to achieve that, very few MPCs are affordable and have been deployed in K-12 schools. This situation raises concerns about the unclear real-world benefits of MPC technology among facility managers and industries. To address this gap, this paper presents a low-cost MPC solution that requires minimal control infrastructure costs and a unique field demonstration at a K-12 school, conducted for both cooling and heating seasons. This work adopted a previously developed MPC and extended it for use in the school application. The MPC aims to coordinate multiple packaged units to eliminate unnecessary peaks and shift cooling or heating loads in response to grid signals based on load conditions, while maintaining thermostat temperatures within school-defined bounds. Throughout the field tests, the MPC achieved a 24% reduction in peak demand during the cooling season and shifted cooling or heating loads by up to 16% in response to the school's utility tariff, considering load conditions, while also allowing end-users to override thermostat setpoints. Further, the paper also discusses the limitations of this study and future research directions for better performance of the MPC at K-12 schools.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 2326954

Journal Information:: Energy and Buildings, Vol. 296; ISSN 0378-7788

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
Model predictive control
K-12 school
Load flexibility
Load shifting
Building decarbonization

Title: The first field application of a low-cost MPC for grid-interactive K-12 schools: Lessons-learned and savings assessment

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