Programmable Communicating Thermostat (PCT) Reference Design
Activities and Documents
The California Energy Commission (CEC) is in process of proposing code for the 2008 Title 24 Building Standards which will require the installation of programmable communicating thermostats (PCT's) to enable demand response (DR) in newly constructed and retrofit residences. The capability of installed PCT's allows utilities and service providers to dispatch air conditioning load curtailments from residential customers during peak periods to address economic or reliability conditions within the electricity grid. This is crucial to the state because during peak times, residential air conditioning accounts for about 15% of the system load - and temporary load reductions of as little as 2% of the system load can address most supply, voltage, or frequency imbalances on the system. California's2006 July heatwave urgently demonstrated the need for this capability, effecting record temperatures across the state, corresponding records in peak load (50,085 MW for the state on July 24, 2006), and blackouts for tens-of-thousands of residents statewide. The potential for "negawatts" obtainable by aggregating reductions in air conditioning load are important because 5 GW of the peak load, above 45 GW, occurred only 0.65% of the year in 2006. Capacity payments for this amount reserve are likely to cost an order of magnitude more than a statewide PCT system. The UCB team seeks to facilitate Title 24 proceedings and assist the CEC and Title 24 stakeholders by researching technical feasibility, stability, and safety issues which arise from of Title 24 code development and systemic design of PCT networks.
Development Documents
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Reference Design Document Version 15, Posted 10/17/2007 |
Download DOC [2.82 MB] |