Energy Efficient Buildings | Building Optimization

Development and Implementation of Smart Demand Response Control Strategies for Commercial Buildings

In cooperation with the Ontario Power Authority, British Columbia Institute of Technology, Akuacom, Regen, Delta Controls and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Demand Response aims at reducing or shifting the electrical energy demand in buildings. When the electrical grid is nearing maximum capacity or the prices are high, the building control system is used to offload or shift the demand to another period. Demand response control strategies are used to manage building electricity costs and improve the stability of the electrical grid during peak times.

Integration of Buildings Onto the Smart Grid

CanmetENERGY is currently developing a networked test platform composed of three buildings across Canada (British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec) to develop and test communication and control strategies with a view to making buildings integral parts of the electrical networks. Control strategies will be developed and implemented so that these buildings are better integrated into the electrical grid and able to respond to demand response events in a way that minimizes their impact on the occupants. These buildings will be linked to a network operations centre that will evaluate their energy performance and examine the performance of each building’s sequences of operation.

This project will include the development of intelligent control strategies that link the buildings to the operations centre at the CanmetENERGY research centre in Varennes. The operations centre can send signals to the buildings, including demand response levels and real-time pricing signals. The buildings can then automatically respond by modifying their operation.

This project will have a significant impact on the development of buildings that are seamlessly integrated into the smart grid, by-passing the serious barriers related to communication protocol transparency between the utilities and the building.