R&D Project: Preventing blackouts using air conditioning units in Bangkok

The client: Chulalongkorn University is Thailand’s largest university. Modelled on the University of Tokyo, it occupies a central district in Bangkok. The University’s Energy Institute and Electrical Engineering Department had already worked with our partner I-ON, a Korean Demand Response software company.

Background: The Thai grid operator EGAT is considering demand response to increase the resilience of the network, and play its part in the energy transition. For example, the 5 largest shopping centres in Bangkok consume as much electricity as 3 entire provinces. Bangkok is the worlds 5th most polluted city (air quality index). Solar power is a huge opportunity, but the state-run electricity system finds it difficult to deal with entrepreneurial solar installers.

The need: We needed to demonstrate that air conditioning, the highest-consuming appliance in homes and offices, can be treated as a flexible asset. We interrupted the cooling part of the air conditioning (compressor) for either 15 minutes, or for 3 times 5minutes during the evening peak (8–10pm) for flats, or the midday peak for offices.

Challenges & our approach: Our system was installed on air conditioning units in 26 locations around Bangkok, a mix of homes and offices. In many cases, connecting to the corporate Wi-Fi was complex. Residents were given a survey pre- and post intervention.

The result: There was a general acceptance by occupants/residents of the intervention, which was noticed minimally temperature-wise.

We are continuing the research to balance air con against solar PV and EV charging on campus.