Applicability of temperature set-point regulation on commercial air conditioners in power systems with various load characteristics

Under proper incentives like time-of-use (TOU) rates, commercial buildings might be attracted to shift and lower their air conditioning loads by regulating the temperature set-points in their building automation systems (BAS). To examine the peak clipping effect and applicability of such regulation in systems with different load characteristics, a periodical temperature set-point optimization model is presented. Simulation and comparative analysis are then conducted for three system load scenarios, i.e. intermittent peak load (IPL), continuous peak load (CPL) and short load spike (SLS). Results show that set-point regulation produces positive peak clipping effect only in systems with SLS. Besides, peak-to-valley price ratios should be designed differently for systems with different load characteristics.