Cost ratio analysis evaluating the potential of an ice storage unit in a multi-energy microgrid

As a higher share of electric energy is generated by fluctuating renewable resources, multi-energy systems and their storage capabilities are of growing importance. Quantifying the potential of those multi-energy systems, appropriate analysis tools are required. Due to different energy carriers, new aspects are relevant for analysis. Besides the electricity price, the ambient temperature plays an important role for the optimal scheduling of the components in multi-energy systems with thermal networks. In this paper, a cost ratio analysis is introduced quantifying the potential of an ice storage unit in a cooling supply system. The analysis is applied to a business facility in Berlin comparing a dynamic electricity price and a carbon emission based price. The resulting cost ratios show the differences in beneficial usage times for both price signals at diverse days. A heat map is proposed to evaluate the performance.