Development of an Energy Management System for a network of distributed energy resources to provide backup power and accumulate savings on time-of-use prices and peak demand charges

Increased demand for electricity has led to pricing methods that promote efficient energy usage. One approach is to charge customers based on their time of usage, commonly known as the time-of-use (TOU) tariff. Under this tariff, electricity prices are higher during peak periods when usage is high and lower throughout off-peak periods when energy usage is reduced. Large commercial and industrial users are usually billed Peak Demand Charges (PDC) where they pay for both actual energy usage and available capacity. Spikes in electricity prices motivate many utility customers to search for other sources of high-quality, reliable, and in some cases renewable energy sources. This paper investigates how a network of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) controlled and monitored by an Energy Management System (EMS) can be used to reduce energy costs via energy arbitrage. In order to fully evaluate the impact of an EMS in operation today, a case study known as the UBC Living Lab Project was conducted. This project consists of four DERs spread out over 0.28 square kilometers on the UBC campus. These DERs are connected together through an EMS communication network that is capable of configuring each component to optimize energy usage and thus savings.