Flexible regulation of airport air-conditioning systems: Impact of cooling load variations on temperature stability

The integration of renewable energy sources has led to notable supply-demand imbalances due to their intermittent nature. Air-conditioning systems, as significant energy consumers with considerable flexibility, play a crucial role in integrating renewable energy and regulating power systems. This paper delves into the capability of air-conditioning systems in airports to flexibly adjust, particularly examining how varying cooling loads impact indoor temperatures. The energy flexibility of the air-conditioning system is evaluated based on three fundamental cooling load variations (incremental, translational, and discrete), and several evaluation parameters are defined. For areas with smaller cooling load fluctuations, there is a greater adjustment margin, but long adjustment periods should be avoided. For areas with larger fluctuations, the original cooling load curve should be considered in the adjustment strategy. The simulation results show that advancing or delaying the supply by 1 h during peak cooling load periods can ensure indoor temperature stability, and step-type cooling load curves do not adversely affect indoor comfort levels. Practical case studies further demonstrate that utilizing water storage as an active regulation strategy can reduce operational costs by 26 %, and with flexible adjustments, this reduction can increase to 35-54 %. The study offers a framework to optimize air-conditioning flexibility in airports, facilitating better renewable energy integration and grid stability, which holds significant potential to reduce costs and improve energy efficiency, thus contributing to sustainable energy management.