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Browsing by Author "Sehar, Fakeha"

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    An Approach to Mitigate Electric Vehicle Penetration Challenges through Demand Response, Solar Photovoltaics and Energy Storage Applications in Commercial Buildings
    Sehar, Fakeha (Virginia Tech, 2017-07-18)
    Electric Vehicles (EVs) are active loads as they increase the demand for electricity and introduce several challenges to electrical distribution feeders during charging. Demand Response (DR) or performing load control in commercial buildings along with the deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) and ice storage systems at the building level can improve the efficiency of electricity grids and mitigate expensive peak demand/energy charges for buildings. This research aims to provide such a solution to make EV penetration transparent to the grid. Firstly, this research contributes to the development of an integrated control of major loads, i.e., Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), lighting and plug loads while maintaining occupant environmental preferences in small- and medium-sized commercial buildings which are an untapped DR resource. Secondly, this research contributes to improvement in functionalities of EnergyPlus by incorporating a 1-minute resolution data set at the individual plug load level. The research evaluates total building power consumption performance taking into account interactions among lighting, plug load, HVAC and control systems in a realistic manner. Third, this research presents a model to study integrated control of PV and ice storage on improving building operation in demand responsive buildings. The research presents the impact of deploying various combinations of PV and ice storage to generate additional benefits, including clean energy generation from PV and valley filling from ice storage, in commercial buildings. Fourth, this research presents a coordinated load control strategy, among participating commercial buildings in a distribution feeder to optimally control buildings' major loads without sacrificing occupant comfort and ice storage discharge, along with strategically deployed PV to absorb EV penetration. Demand responsive commercial building load profiles and field recorded EV charging profiles have been added to a real world distribution circuit to analyze the effects of EV penetration, together with real-world PV output profiles. Instead of focusing on individual building's economic benefits, the developed approach considers both technical and economic benefits of the whole distribution feeder, including maintaining distribution-level load factor within acceptable ranges and reducing feeder losses.
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    Impact of Ice Storage on Electrical Energy Consumption in Large and Medium-sized Office Buildings in Different Climate Zones
    Sehar, Fakeha (Virginia Tech, 2011-09-22)
    Cooling demand constitutes a large portion of total electrical demand for office buildings during peak hours. Deteriorating load factors, increased use of more inefficient and polluting peaking units are the aftermaths of growth in peak demand challenging energy system efficiency and grid reliability. Ice storage technology can help shift this peak cooling demand to off-peak periods. Ice storage reduces or even eliminates chiller operation during peak periods. The objective of the research is to analyze the chiller energy consumption of conventional non-storage and ice storage cooling systems for large and medium-sized office buildings in diverse climate zones. The research also quantifies the peak energy savings as a result of ice storage systems. To accomplish the thesis objectives the Demand Response Quick Assessment Tool (DRQAT) has been used to model and simulate large and medium-sized office buildings in diverse climate zones with non-storage and ice storage cooling systems. Demand Response Quick Assessment Tool (DRQAT) has been developed by LBNL's Demand Response Research Center. It is based on the most popular features and capabilities of EnergyPlus and is downloadable from [1]. The construction and weather files in DRQAT have been modified to incorporate construction standards and weather data for the cities representing the diverse climate zones. The ice storage system's operating and control strategies investigated include full storage and partial storage with storage priority and chiller priority. Research findings indicate that chiller energy consumption for non-storage and ice storage systems depends highly on climatic conditions. The climate zones with hot summers as well as small day and night temperature variations show higher chiller energy consumption. The marine climate zone has the lowest chiller energy consumption. The cold/humid climate zone has higher chiller energy consumption than the cold/dry and very cold climate zones. The cold/dry and very cold climate zones have comparable chiller energy consumption. The research findings will help utilities and building owners to quantify the benefits of installing ice storage systems in office buildings located in different climate zones.