Demand Response-Oriented Regulation and Optimization of Air-Conditioning Systems for Metro Stations with Platform Screen Doors

With urban development, metro systems have become a prioritized form of public transport due to their high efficiency and convenience, accompanied by a sharp rise in energy consumption of air-conditioning systems in metro stations. Meanwhile, as the penetration of renewable power into the power grid increases, the imbalance between power supply and demand becomes increasingly prominent. As a vital solution, demand response has attracted extensive research attention. Accordingly, this paper investigates demand response-oriented regulation strategies for air-conditioning systems in metro stations. Based on load simulation and chiller energy consumption modeling, the flexibility potential and economic performance of the proposed strategies, namely the indoor temperature reset strategy, chilled water supply temperature optimization strategy, and temporary outdoor air shutdown strategy, are analyzed. The indoor temperature reset strategy allows the air conditioning of station halls and equipment rooms to be shut down for 1 h after sufficient pre-cooling, showing favorable flexible regulation capacity. The energy-saving rate of the chilled water supply temperature optimization strategy ranges from 18.03% to 30.72% before and after optimization. Under the premise of satisfying indoor environmental requirements, the temporary outdoor air shutdown strategy achieves a power reduction of up to 13.12%. After aggregating the flexible regulation capacity of large and small air-conditioning systems, the revenue of a single station within a 2 h demand response event can reach 1753.12 CNY and 2461.50 CNY under the demand response subsidy mechanisms of Wuxi and Chongqing, respectively. The results demonstrate that the proposed strategies match the load characteristics of metro stations and are practically applicable. In addition, satisfactory economic benefits can be achieved in regions with urgent demand response requirements.