Tim Rooney’s scientific contributions

As the smart grid involves more new technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs) and distributed energy resources (DERs), more attention is needed in research to general energy storage (GES) based energy management systems (EMS) that account for all possible load shifting and control strategies, specifically with major appliances that are projected to continue electrification such as the electric water heater (EWH). In this work, a methodology for a modified single-node model of a resistive EWH is proposed with improved internal tank temperature for user comfort modeling and capabilities for conservation voltage reduction (CVR) simulations as well as Energy Star and Consumer Technology Association communications protocol (CTA-2045) compliant controls, including energy storage calculations for “energy take”. Daily and weekly simulations are performed on a representative IEEE test feeder distribution system with experimental load and hot water draw (HWD) profiles to consider user comfort. Sequential controls are developed to reduce power spikes from controls and lead to peak shavings. It is found that EWHs are suitable for virtual power plant (VPP) operation with sustainable tank temperatures, i.e., average water temperature is maintained at set-point or above at the end of the control period while shifting up to 78% of EWH energy out of shed windows per day and 75% over a week, which amounts to up to 23% of the total load shifted on the example power system. While CVR simulations reduced the peak power of individual EWHs, the aggregation effect at the distribution level negates this reduction in power for the community. The EWH is shown as an energy constant load without consistent benefit from CVR across the example community with low energy reductions of less than 0.1% and, in some cases, increased daily energy by 0.18%.

Advanced control techniques may be used to establish a virtual power plant to regulate the operation of electric water heaters, which may be regarded as a “uni-directional battery” and a major component of a hybrid residential energy storage system. In order to estimate the potential of regulating water heaters at the aggregated level, factors including user behavior, number of water heaters, and types of water heaters must be considered. This study develops generic water heater load curves based on the data retrieved from large experimental projects for resistive electric water heaters (EWHs) and heat pump water heaters (HPWHs). A community-level digital twin with scalability has been developed to capture the aggregated hot water flow and average hot temperature in the tank. The results in this paper also include the “energy take” in line with the CTA-2045 standard and Energy Star specification. The data from the experiments demonstrated that changing from an EWH to an HPWH reduces electricity usage by approximately 70%. The case study showed that daily electricity usage could be shifted by approximately 14% and 17% by EWH and HPWHs, respectively, compared to their corresponding average power. Another case study showed that both EHWs and HPWHs, coordinated with PV to reduce morning and evening peaks, could shift approximately 22% of the daily electricity.