Optimizing DER Sizing and Energy Management for Airport Buildings with Dynamic Grid Pricing

Buildings represent about 17.5% of global carbon emissions, the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. This highlights the urgent requirement to decarbonize buildings to increase sustainability and fight climate change. Critical buildings like hospitals, airports need power round-the-clock, requiring backup generators and Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) to keep running when the grid is down. Yet, not all DERs are environmentally friendly, making it harder for decision-makers to balance sustainability and energy resiliency. A previous study focused on developing a parametric methodology to optimize energy demand and maximize energy resiliency, using Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as a case study. However, it did not account for the effects of hourly real-time grid pricing or demand variation. This study fills that gap by analyzing the effect of dynamic grid pricing on energy storage sizing and lifecycle cost of DERs. It also explores the optimization of absorption chillers, combined heat and power cogeneration (CHP) for air conditioning, and thermal energy storage (TES) water tanks, which can accumulate energy on a short-term basis and be utilized during off-peak hours, ultimately reducing grid reliance and improving efficiency. The results explore the feasibility of the thermal energy system integrated with distributed energy resources (DERs) and their impacts on dynamic grid pricing. Two scenarios—one optimized for cost and the other for sustainability—are analyzed and compared based on varying stakeholder priorities. The insights gained from this study are significant to energy management decision making, electrical and thermal energy alike, and can be applied to other critical infrastructure with dynamic grid pricing in mind.