BUCKEYES GO!

Students walking past Thompson Library.

In October of 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $61 million pilot project intended to transform how homes and other buildings use energy. Through the implementation of smart controls, remotes sensors and other automated processes, 10 Connected Communities will increase buildings' energy efficiency and sustainability by actively interacting with the electical grid. These grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs) will offer more pleasant environments for their occupants while reducing carbon emissions and saving money.

 

The goals for Ohio State's Connected Communities project are:

ENERGY SUFFICIENCY & DEMAND FLEXIBILITY

35% energy reduction from 2017 baseline.
2MW flexibility at peak times.

ASSET VALUE

20% increase in net present value (NPV) of renewable assets (vs 2019)
Improved resilience to extreme events.

In October 2021, DOE announced $61 million for 10 pilot projects that will conceive, optimize, build and refine “connected communities,” in which buildings and distributed energy resources – such as photovoltaic solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations and battery storage – are controlled in coordination with the electrical grid. This leads to optimized energy consumption within the community, providing a model for reducing the building sector’s contribution to the climate crisis. 

As one of 10 selected projects, Ohio State received a $4.9 million DOE grant to be used over the next five years.

Led by College of Engineering Associate Dean of Facilities Michael Hagenberger and Engineering Research Assistant Professor, Matilde D’Arpino, Ohio State’s project leverages the university’s public-private partnership with Ohio State Energy Partners established in 2017 by ENGIE North America and Axium Infrastructure. Since then, the partners have embarked on a transformation of the 485-building Columbus campus with the installation of nearly 1,000 smart meters, approval of more than $190 million in energy efficiency measures and implementation of a central analytics and control platform. These infrastructure upgrades have resulted in Ohio State’s Columbus campus becoming the one of the nation’s leaders in campus energy management and a replicable pilot for other communities.

Ohio State was the only academic institution selected to lead a Connected Communities project. The other project awardees include Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.; IBACOS, Inc.; PacifiCorp; Portland General Electric; Post Road Foundation; Slipstream Group, Inc.; Spokane Edo; and SunPower Corporation.

The Ohio State project team will develop and manage its “Connected Community” as a pilot cluster of 22 campus buildings, of diverse vintage and use type, and energy assets controlled by custom developed software tools. The energy assets include: multiple central chiller plants; a steam plant; 65,000 square feet of solar power photovoltaics; ground source heat pump plant; 29 electric vehicle charging stations; and 50 megawatts of wind energy through a power purchase agreement. The pilot will also provide insights into the energy efficiency project’s impact on building occupants, building owners and operational impacts with the ultimate goal of occupants’ satisfaction.

Ohio State’s Connected Community will feature a unique network architecture to support the integration of data from all of these assets – streams of real-time utility data such as electricity and chilled water from campus buildings, hyperlocal weather data and occupancy data via wireless access points – to facilitate resource utilization decisions and control campus buildings in coordination, following extensive modeling in the project’s first few years. Ohio State’s two primary building operators, Facilities Operations and Development (FOD) and Student Life (SL) have committed a strong and knowledgeable team to work together through the inevitable challenges that melding unique requirements, protocols and security can bring.  Not only will this architecture allow for the control of OSU’s electrical demand on the grid, it will be a demonstration of effective cybersecurity for microgrid control systems and distributed energy resources.

Buildings account for 74% of U.S. electricity consumption – and even more during times of peak demand. Moreover, the way electricity is generated and consumed is changing year by year, fueled by the rapid adoption of renewable energy resources like hydropower, wind, and solar. Due to these sources’ variability and events exacerbated by climate change, it is more complicated than ever to deliver power when people need it most. Still, maintaining today’s energy system is not enough. To fully decarbonize the grid by 2035 and the economy by 2050, every tool will be necessary: energy efficiency to reduce demand, beneficial electrification to eliminate distributed emissions, and flexible integration of distributed energy resources.

CONTACT

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