LV-17-024 — Reducing the Need for Electrical Storage by Coupling Solar PVs and Precooling in Three Residential Building Types in the Phoenix Climate

The increasing residential air-conditioning demand andthe growing number of solar photovoltaic (PV) systemsinstalled in the residential sector have increased electrical netenergy demand fluctuation. These severe fluctuations lead toa need for flexible generation capacities that can rapidly meetthe fluctuating demands. To combat these fluctuations, utilitycompanies have introduced different price plans to financiallyincentivize customers to reduce their demand during certainhours of the day, in essence, attempting to make residentialelectricity demand constant (or “flat”) for the daytime hours.Flattening the net demand not only reduces homeowners’operation costs, it also enhances stability of the electricity gridby decreasing the need for flexible generation plants that typicallyuse more fossil fuels. Therefore, shifting electricityconsumption from peak to off-peak hours promotes economicand environmental savings. This paper leverages simulationmodeling and experimental work to explore the feasibility ofcoupling precooling with photovoltaics (PVs) to achieve flatresidential net demand in three Phoenix, AZ area homes.Results show that precooling coupled with PVs provideseconomic benefits of up to $160 annually for homeownerswhile simultaneously reducing demand fluctuations by up to90%.