ATLANTA, Georgia, United States, 2 February 2020: ASHRAE has released its Smart Grid Application Guide: Integrating Facilities with the Electric Grid, the Society announced through a Press release.

Created as part of 2018-19 ASHRAE President Sheila J Hayter’s presidential initiative, the Smart Grid Application Guide provides building owners, managers and designers with guidance on the smart grid, applicable smart grid standards and regulations, as well as the design and operation of systems in this emerging industry, ASHRAE said.

“Harnessing the opportunities smart grid systems provide for creating more flexible and dynamic building systems is an integral part of our new energy future,” Hayter said. “This guide was specifically designed to help building professionals navigate the steps needed to prepare a building for the smart grid.”

According to the release, the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) and the OpenADR Alliance were heavily involved in working with ASHRAE on the development of the guide.

“The transformation to a smart grid has already begun,” said Steven Bushby, Fellow ASHRAE, Chair of the Guide’s ad hoc committee and leader of the Mechanical Systems and Controls Group of the Energy and Environment Division of NIST’s Engineering Laboratory. “The Smart Grid Application Guide is a resource to help building professionals understand what is happening during this transformation and the opportunities they can take advantage of now and in the future.”

According to the release, the guide details the concrete steps needed to prepare a building – whether new construction or renovation – for integration with the smart grid. It covers a wide variety of topics, including:

• Navigating regulatory environments that affect deployment of the smart grid
• Strategies to accrue benefits
• Utility bill savings and potential revenue streams
• Behind-the-meter distributed energy resources
• Demand-side management
• Customer aggregation for demand response
• Considerations for single- and multiple-facility design and operations
• Microgrids
• Meeting building needs during interruptions to grid services

Constraints on deployment options