Techno-economic study of thermal energy storage systems in tropical climate university building

In the heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) industry, cool thermal energy storage (TES) is the most preferred demand side management (DSM) technology for shifting cooling electrical demand from peak hour to off-peak hour. In this study, the techno-economic feasibility of TES in subtropical Central Queensland University building is studied. Cooling load profiles of existing systems are simulated first using DesignBuilder (DB) simulation software which is based on EnergyPlus (EP) simulation engine, then verified by on-site measured data and then TES systems are analysed. Under the Australian electricity tariff rates, the results show that the full chilled storage can save up to 61.3% of the electricity cost required for cooling when compared with the conventional system.