Provision of frequency containment reserve with an aggregate of air handling units

Following political strategy changes with the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the German power system has experienced a great penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources. The volatile electricity generation of renewable energy sources requires greater flexibility not only on the electricity supply but also on the demand side. The ventilation of buildings represents a largely untapped resource for demand response measures such as control reserve. Due to the quick reaction speed and inertia of the air balance of supplied buildings, electric motors of air handling units qualify to provide frequency containment reserve. In this paper we present a system architecture according to standards by the German transmission system operators to provide frequency containment reserve with an aggregate of air handling units. At an industrial site containing workshop and office buildings a prototype of the system has been installed and prequalified by the transmission system operators to provide almost 300 kW of frequency containment reserve.