Using Thermal Inertia of Buildings with Phase Change Materials as a Flexible Energy Resource

Abstract

The massive uptake of distributed energy resources (DERs) and advancement in infrastructure technologies have attracted more attention on demand response. Using photovoltaic (PV) systems and battery storage systems enable end-users to actively manage their energy consumption by shifting or reducing flexible loads. One of the flexible loads that contribute primarily to buildings’ energy usage and overall energy consumption worldwide is space heating and cooling. In recent years, the thermal inertia of a building has been demonstrated as a potential alternative to battery energy storage. In some countries such as Australia, the predominant type of building has low thermal inertia. Therefore, using thermal inertia as an alternative to battery storage systems becomes infeasible for these lightweight buildings. However, the integration of phase change materials (PCMs) into the building’s envelope improves the building’s thermal inertia significantly. The present dissertation expands frontiers of PCM application in residential buildings, offering advances on PCM integration into home energy management systems (HEMS) that can be installed in smart meters with low computational power. Moreover, through many case studies in Australia, it investigates the viability of PCM to use as an alternative to the battery storage system to reduce electricity cost and increase self-consumption of PV systems.