Simulation of energy flexibility strategies in a cluster of dual-fuel commercial and institutional buildings and all-electric residential buildings in a cold climate

In this simulation study, a cluster of residential and commercial/institutional (CI) buildings undergoes flexibility strategies to reduce electric power during winter demand response (DR) events and the effect of these measures is analysed on the cluster level and on the individual building level. The portfolio used to simulate the flexibility strategies is comprised of 2430 buildings, of which 2400 are modelled as residential and 30 as CI buildings; this ratio roughly represents the real ratio of residential to commercial floor area in the location of study. The residential homes are all-electric, while the CI buildings have heating available through both an electric and a gas boiler, providing a dual-fuel heating system to work with for flexibility measures. The flexibility strategies tested are reactive and predictive, in which reactive measures are considered as not having any preplanning required, while predictive measures include preheating outside of peak hours for residential buildings, and fuel-switching during, before, and/or after DR events for CI buildings. The study investigates and verifies the complimentary nature of a mixed building cluster in order to provide flexibility during DR events, through peak power reductions of 24-37% during demand response events for the aggregated cluster. Compared to the power reductions obtained for only residential building clusters or only CI building clusters, the joining of all buildings to create the mixed cluster presents a greater benefit and confirms the synergy possible between mixed building types in flexibility studies.