Economic analysis of optimized control of central cooling plants

In this project the authors have examined the economics of optimization technology applied to central cooling plants without thermal energy storage. The purpose was to make informed decisions as to whether there is a sufficiently large market for the technology to warrant development of products that would facilitate its application. The analysis is based on short term simulations in which the impact of optimization was calculated. A method was developed to extrapolate the simulation results to estimate annual energy use impacts for different building types and climates. Utility rates were used to calculate energy cost savings. These benefits were combined with economic parameters to estimate a discounted benefit-cost ratio. Cost thresholds below which optimization will be cost effective were defined, and from this, market opportunities were inferred.