“The intent of the Smart Grid Demonstration Project in Pullman is to show how the electric grid can react to sudden changes in power supply and demand within the region. Because it takes a significant amount of energy to run a campus the size of WSU, we can adjust how much energy our utility has to supply to WSU by modifying the energy levels in the schools’ buildings and facilities,” said Avista’s Heather Rosentrater, director of smart grid projects.

“What we learn about power supply and demand on a regional scale can be applied at a national level to create a more responsive and reliable grid. Ultimately, we will all benefit from what we learn in Pullman,” Rosentrater said.

The $4.2 million WSU Facilities Services project is being implemented by a team led by Terry Ryan, WSU director of energy systems operations.

The project was funded from a variety of sources, including $1.8 million in U.S. Department of Energy Smart Grid Demonstration Project grant funding, $1 million from energy savings using the energy savings performance contracting process, $600,000 in rebates and direct funding from Avista, $552,000 from a state commerce department energy grant, and $256,000 in major capital from the WSU global animal health project.

Ryan said there are three ways WSU can assist Avista in stabilizing its electrical grid.

“We have three generators at the Grimes Way steam plant that can be used to serve some of our own facilities and reduce the WSU load on the regional utility grid,” he said. “We can conduct a chilled water load shed, where we temporarily reduce our electrical water chilling load by increasing the output from our chilled water storage tank.

“And we can shed a significant portion of our HVAC load by reducing airflow and related electrical fan loads in selected non-lab areas of 28 campus buildings for short time periods,” he said. “This feature also allows us to implement energy-saving load reductions during low occupancy periods such as evenings and weekends.

“The HVAC load shed procedures involve selected non-laboratory, low-impact areas like offices, hallways, conference rooms, and classrooms within retrofitted buildings,” said Ryan. “When Avista requests WSU to initiate an HVAC load shed, the airflow in the selected rooms will be reduced to near zero for about 15 minutes at the most. This will normally have little noticeable effect other than an interruption of the normal airflow noise.

“But there is an override button on the room thermostat in each of the affected rooms, which allows occupants to override the airflow reduction in their room should it become necessary,” he said. The selected rooms can be identified by special labeling on the thermostat or from the building/room listing.

The HVAC load shed capability will also allow WSU to reduce the significant energy waste that occurs during the low occupancy periods in the evening and on weekends by reducing ventilation levels after working hours, Ryan said.

“As an energy-saving measure, the load shed feature will be triggered in the selected rooms every evening after 5 p.m. and throughout the weekend,” he said. “The override function on the thermostats will remain active, however. This means any occupant will be able to restore normal conditions in the room for a two-hour period as many times as necessary by simply pressing a button on the thermostat.

“The load shed and override functions are active only when the applicable building fan systems are already running,” he said. “Once the fan systems shut down for the night, the override is not functional.”

Ryan said WSU is also automating parts of the campus high voltage system at two substations to improve power reliability and recovery from outages.

In addition, two other major energy management enhancements on the Pullman campus are expected to be completed this year:

• Development of an enterprise energy management system (EEMS) utilizing networked smart meters to monitor energy use at connected buildings in a near-real-time mode. Energy data will be recorded and available for energy reporting, analysis, and predictive maintenance. The EEMS will provide web access for viewing campus energy use data.

• Implementation of a conservation voltage reduction system with Avista to provide optimized voltage control based on actual building voltages. Switching capacitor banks on the high voltage feeders will be integrated in the system to improve system power factors. A reduction in electrical demand as well as energy use is a result of the better voltage and power factor regulation.

WSU expects to achieve energy savings of approximately $150,000 annually as a result of the smart grid enhancements, Ryan said.

“None of it could have been achieved without a significant team effort by virtually all of Facilities Services, and particularly from the info systems and maintenance groups, as well as a whole host of other campus organizations,” he said. “And of course, we relied heavily on the work and the expertise of our energy services company, McKinstry Company, and their team, Schweitzer Engineering Labs, M&M Harrison, PCE Pacific, Siemens, and Netversant.”

For additional information about WSU’s load shedding capabilities and participation in the Smart Grid Development Project, go to http://smartgrid.wsu.edu.

Publication date: 11/18/2013

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