A MODEL FOR EVALUATING THE ECONOMICS OF COOL STORAGE-SYSTEMS

Cool storage systems store a cooling medium produced during off-peak hours to be used for cooling purposes in the on-peak hours. Their operation allows the customers' electricity use for cooling to be shifted to off-peak periods, benefitting both the customer and the utility. Reductions in electricity costs the customer must pay are possible and depend upon the schedule of rates for electricity the customer faces. The savings also depend upon the climatic conditions of that area and the characteristics of the cool storage system itself. In this paper a computer model is presented that can be used to calculate the daily, monthly, annual and present worth savings of alternate cool storage system designs. The model has been programmed to calculate automatically the sensitivity of the savings for a range of alternative compressor ratings. It has been implemented as part of the ICICLE computer code, a design tool being developed at the University of Texas at Austin to assist thermal cool storage system designers, electric utilities, and customers.