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Energy Procedia 18 (2012) 1485 – 1495

ECOMOMIC ASSESSMENT OF CHILLED WATER THERMAL STORAGE AND

CONVENTIONAL AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEMS

M.J. Sebzali*, B. Ameer, H.J. Hussain

Department of Building and Energy Technologies

Environment and Urban Development Division
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research
P.O.Box: 24885 Safat, 13109 Kuwait
Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
In Kuwait, electricity is becoming an increasingly essential element of modern life. This flexible
energy is used for heating, cooling, appliances, TVs, computers and transportation. The demand for
electricity is growing at an average of 5.4% per year well above the world average of 2.7%. The growth
of Kuwait energy demand is projected to rise sharply over coming years. The Ministry of Electricity
and Water (MEW) expects that the peak demand will grow to 17.2 GW by the year 2013. The chilled
water thermal storage (CWTS) system is one of the available techniques that can be utilized to reduce
peak electricity demand of buildings when national electricity consumption is at its highest level.

In this paper, Life Cycle Cost (LCC) was estimated to investigate impact of implementing CWTS
for cooling of buildings for both the MEW and the consumer. Results show that CWTS operating with
a load leveling strategy gives the lowest LCC compared to 50% demand limiting and full storage
strategies, and is, therefore, considered as the most cost effective option for both MEW and consumer.

Keywords: Thermal energy storage; peak power; energy consumption; cooling demand; Kuwait; life
cycle cost

INTRODUCTION
In Kuwait, MEW is the sole supplier of electricity in the country, and it is deeply concerned about
meeting the demand for electricity due to AC consumption. Based on statistical data supplied by MEW
(MEW,2009), the peak power demand from 1999 to 2008 increased at an annual rate of 5.4% which is
well above the world average of 2.7% (Khatib, 2005). Peak power demand is important because MEW
is faced with investing in new generation capacity to cope with expected increase in peak demand. In
addition, it has been estimated that AC systems of buildings annually consume about 45% of the
exported electrical energy from the power plants and contribute about 63% of the peak power
generation (Sebzali, 2006).

Cool thermal storage systems can be used to significantly reduce the peak power demand for the
AC systems in buildings by allowing energy intensive electrically driven chillers to operate mostly
during night time when the electricity demands are lower. In addition, some configurations and designs
may result in lower capital costs and lower operating costs (MacCracken, 2003). Depending on the
system configuration, the chiller may be smaller than would be required for direct cooling, leading to
smaller auxiliaries such as the cooling tower, the condenser and the chilled water pumps. Pumping
energy can be reduced by increasing the chilled water temperature range, and fan energy can be cut
with colder air distribution (Meckler, 1989). Al-Rabghi in Ref. Furthermore, Al-Rabghi (2004) argued
that thermal energy storage could be one of several technological methods for lowering energy
consumption of buildings if it were incorporated within their AC systems.

In Kuwait, there is no cheap rate electricity tariff and there is no direct cash incentive offered by
MEW for demand management measures. However, the cool thermal storage system may be attractive
for both MEW and consumer if peak power demand and energy consumption are both reduced. Many
types of cool thermal storage technologies are available in the market; however, the most promising
storage technology is CWTS (Sebzali, 2007).

In the CWTS system, a large storage tank is used to store chilled water at a temperature between
4.0°C and 6.7°C (Dorgani, 1994). This temperature is compatible with most conventional AC systems
and allows the use of a conventional chiller. Higher operating efficiency of the AC system can be

1876-6102 © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of The TerraGreen Society.
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2012.05.165
1486 M.J. Sebzali et al. / Energy Procedia 18 (2012) 1485 – 1495

realized with CWTS, because the storing of cooling occurs during the night time when lower ambient
temperatures improve the performance of heat rejection equipment. Moreover, CWTS operates under
the same conditions as for conventional AC systems. Similarly, the piping configuration and Air
Handling Units (AHUs) are identical as in a conventional system, which makes the design
consideration easier (Fiorino, 1991).

In this paper, economic assessment of using CWTS AC systems is considered. LCC is applied for
both conventional and CWTS AC systems to determine the most cost-effective AC system design. Two
operating strategies are examined, namely partial and full storage strategies. For the partial storage
strategy is divided into load leveling (with chiller priority) and 50% demand limiting strategies. In the
partial storage strategy, the chiller meets the cooling demand as much as possible and when the cooling
demand exceeds the chiller capacity, the additional cooling is supplied from the storage tank. In the full
storage strategy, the chiller is switched off completely during peak cooling demand and the stored
chilled water is used to meet the cooling demand.

PROPOSED DESIGN OF CENTRAL COOLING PLANT AND CHILLED WATER

DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
In this study, the cooling production for the central cooling plant of the conventional AC system
is assumed to consist of a single electric-driven air-cooled chiller and one working (plus one standby)
primary constant flow chilled water pump. The cooling production of CWTS systems is the same as
conventional system but with additional stratified chilled water tank. Chillers and storage tanks
capacities in CWTS AC systems operating with 50% demand limiting and full storage strategies are
estimated based on four hours discharging time, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. It is also assumed that
storage charging starts at 6:00 pm and ends when the storage tank is fully charged.

The chilled water distribution systems for conventional and CWTS are arranged with primary-
secondary piping designs as shown in Figure 1 (ASHRAE, 2000). This design is considered today as
the most popular chilled water system because it separates the chiller (i.e. the chilled water production
zone) from the distribution piping system (i.e. the chilled water transportation zone) thereby reducing
the differential pressure drop across the control valves of the cooling coil (James, 1996).

Design volumetric flow rate in the primary circuit is met by a single centrifugal pump with a
second standby pump of the same size. The secondary chilled water distribution piping system for both
conventional and CWTS systems is arranged with a direct return piping arrangement. The chilled water
in the secondary piping system is circulated by three parallel constant flow secondary pumps (plus on
standby).

Figure 1. Proposed piping arrangement for CSAT building.

 M.J. Sebzali et al. / Energy Procedia 18 (2012) 1485 – 1495 1487

DEVELOPMENT OF SYSTEM COOLING LOAD

The building energy simulation program, ESP-r, is used to determine the cooling demand of the
center using typical metrological weather data for Kuwait (Clarke, 2001). The simulation is conducted
by defining the geometry and the construction of the internal and external walls, roof, ceiling, and
ground floor. The boundary conditions for each surface and the operation schedules of the internal load
such as occupancy, lighting, and appliances are also defined for each zone of the building.

In an attempt to reduce the cooling demand during the night time, the building is simulated with
defined ventilation control. The ventilation is started from 5:00 am to 3:00 pm, whereas at other hours
during the day the ventilation is switched off. The results showed that the ventilation control has
reduced the total integrated cooling demand during the 24-hour period from 5.7 MWch to 4.3 MWch,
This makes the use of CWTS more attractive because of the lower building cooling demand during the
time at which the tank is charged.

The system load profiles for CWTS and conventional AC systems are obtained by adding heat
gain from auxiliary systems including AHU motors, pump motors, supply and return ducts and chilled
water pipes. The heat gain by AHUs is determined based on calculated design of volumetric air flow
rate and pressure drop across the AHUs and ducts, the heat gain by primary and secondary chilled
water motor pumps are computed using calculated design volumetric flow rates of the chilled water and
the total pumping head, and heat gains by the piping systems are determined using the temperature
difference between the chilled water and ambient and overall heat transfer coefficient.

The developed system cooling loads are plotted in Figure 2. The figure shows that the differences
in system load profiles are minimal due to small differences in the heat gains by the auxiliary systems.
The heat gains of auxiliary systems in CWTS are slightly lower than in the conventional AC system
because to smaller sizes of chilled water motor pumps.

400
Conventional

350 Water (Load Leveling)

Maximum System Load
Water (Demand Limiting)

300
System Cooling Load (kWc)

Water (Full)

250

200

150

100
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Time of Day (h)

Figure 2. Hourly cooling load for AC systems.

ESTIMATION OF POWER DEMAND

The performance data such as percentage load, gross capacity and absorbed power of the chillers
in CWTS and conventional AC systems are obtained using program software developed by Carrier
ECAT2 (Carrier, 2004). The obtained data are based on a factory run test for each chiller model at the
full load design and part load operating points. The power demand of the chillers is determined using
the design day dry bulb temperatures of Kuwait and developed system cooling loads.
1488 M.J. Sebzali et al. / Energy Procedia 18 (2012) 1485 – 1495

The power demand of AHU motors is obtained from the FLEX-air Version 5.08SA software
program (Carrier, 2005) based on the calculated pressure drop and design volumetric flow rate of air
and fans and motors efficiencies. In addition, it was assumed that the AHU motors would run
continuously throughout the year irrespective of the cooling demand of the building; thereby, the
motors would run at a constant full speed.

Similarly, the power demand of primary and secondary pump motors is estimated base on
estimated design pressure drop, chilled water volumetric flow rate, pumps and motor efficiencies.
Primary chilled water pumps, are assumed to be running continuously at constant speed only when
chiller is in operation. In case of secondary chilled water pumps, the power demand is determined
based on the number of pumps that come into operation. The number of pumps is a function of the
volumetric flow rate of chilled water circulating through the cooling coil, which varies depending on
building cooling demand.

DETERMINIATION OF LIFE CYCLE COST

To estimate the total cost of the AC systems including all expenses incurred over the life of the
system, and to determine the most cost-effective system designs, the following simplified formula is
used to compute the LCC of the AC systems as stated by (Sieglinde, 1996)

LCC = C + O&M + E + W + S (1)

where
C = Capital cost of the AC system, $.
O&M = Operating and maintenance cost of the AC system, $.
E = Electrical energy cost to operate the AC system, $.
W = Water consumption cost for the AC system, $.
S = Salvage value of the AC system, $.

The present value (PV) for all costs given in Equation (1) is obtained by (Sieglinde, 1996)

PV = F x UPV (2)

Where
F = Future sum of money at the end of the year, $.

The uniform present value factor (UPV) in equation (2) is calculated as (Sieglinde, 1996),

n
1 L 1 L
UPV 1
D L 1 D
(3)

Where
L = Escalation rate.
D = Nominal discount rate.
n = System life time, years.

The PV of the expenses capital, operating and maintenance, energy, water, salvage and LCC for
each AC system design are calculated using Equations (1-3) for expected life time of twenty-five year
for an air-cooled AC system. The calculations are performed using actual connection and energy costs
for MEW and subsidized costs for consumer. The PV for each expense is obtained by multiplying the
base date cost by the UPV, and then the LCC is obtained by summing all the calculated expenses.

The nominal discount rate in Equation (3) was taken as 5%, as recommended by the Techno-
Economic Division (TED) at (Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research) KISR. Note that the average
nominal discount rate for the last seven years 2003-2009 as stated by Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK)
(CBK, 2010) is 3.5%. The escalation rate for all non-energy related is assumed equal to zero (i.e.
maintenance and repair prices change at a rate close to that of general inflation over time). However,
the fuel oil price escalation rate for producing electricity and water is estimated to be 15%, which is the
average increase in the price of fuel to generated electricity and to produce fresh water. This means fuel
has a price escalation rate deviated substantially from the general inflation rate.
 M.J. Sebzali et al. / Energy Procedia 18 (2012) 1485 – 1495 1489

Estimation of AC Systems Capital Costs

The capital costs for the AC systems C, are obtained by summing the individual costs for cooling
production, water and air distribution and the storage subsystems as shown in Table 1. The costs are
obtained from local suppliers and from leading contractors in Kuwait.
Water distribution cost
In most installations, the chilled water is distributed using seamless black steel heavy duty
schedule 40 pipes. Their cost in US$ per meter is determined based on the calculated length and
nominal diameters for each pipe section. Additional costs are added to the cost of pipes including
piping supports, hangers, and sleeves. These costs are estimated based on the costing analysis for three
existing projects provided by a contractor. Furthermore, thermal insulation has a significant influence
on the piping costs. The cost is found to be varying depending on the insulation material (i.e. insulation
density) and thickness. The cost of the insulation is determined for pipes insulated with rigid fibreglass
of 96 kgm-3 density for 15 mm and 50 mm insulation thicknesses.

Air distribution cost

The air distribution system consists mainly of fans, ducting, terminals and insulation including
AHUs which contain the supply air fans and sometimes return fans that circulate the air in the ducts.
The costs of the AHUs are obtained directly from the local supplier. Table 1 shows that the cost of
AHUs in CWTS system is slightly higher because of bigger AHUs used in these system due to higher
temperature differential design.

The design of the ducting system in all AC systems is supposed to be the same. The cost of
ducting system is obtained from a leading AC contractor and estimated to be US$ 33843, that is based
on a review of the ducting layout provided by the AC design engineer of the building. The cost
included ducting installation (e.g. galvanized sheet duct, hangars, supporters, dampers, insulations,
diffusers, grills and so on), labour, overheads, and profits.

Cooling production cost

The cost of the cooling production in the AC systems is always largest compared with other
system costs and it depends on chiller size. Generally in Kuwait, air-cooled chillers with reciprocating
compressors are about 25% more expensive than those with crew compressors, and their costs in US$
per kW cooling initially drops to between 176 kWc and 422 kWc and then stays constant (Maheshwari,
2003). The cost of the chillers for the models selected by ECAT2 Version 4.12 chiller selection
software is obtained from the supplier (Carrier, 2004); their costs are determined based on
specifications recommended by MEW. In addition, the transportation cost of chillers is estimated to be
about US$ 5530, for both conventional and CWTS AC systems.

Electrical and control cost

Based on the costing analysis of three existing projects obtained from a contractor agency, the
cost of the electrics and control including labour overheads and profit are found to be between 5% and
10% of the overall AC system cost, and this is also verified by Buys (2005). The cost of electrical work
mainly depends on the site layout and the equipment location in relation to the power supply points.
Basically, the electrical system of an AC system consists of electrical control center, the distribution
board, and wiring. The cost distribution boards can be determined based on a number of feed and
amperage ratings, and the cost of the cables can be obtained based on the amperage ratings and cable
length. Since the above information is difficult to gather and could be very lengthy process to be
performed for different AC systems design. Therefore, the cost of the electrics (that is, electrical work)
is determined at US$ 90.25, per kWe connected power which is based on consultations with several
contracting agencies in Kuwait (Maheshwari, 2003).

Table 1. Subsystem costs of various AC systems in thousand US$.

CWTS
AC Subsystem Conventional
Demand
Load Leveling Full
Limiting
Water Distribution 41200 40950 41370 44350
Air Distribution 85570 86680 86680 86680
Cooling Production 158130 125350 133060 142700
1490 M.J. Sebzali et al. / Energy Procedia 18 (2012) 1485 – 1495

Electrics and Control 23270 32920 35260 34810

Water Tank 0 30780 37990 51750

Total 308160 316680 334360 360290

The cost of the control system and monitoring makes up 5% to 15% of the cost of an AC
installation and it depends on many factors but mainly on the complexity of the control, type and
number of the control devices, sensors and their locations and controllers (Buys, 2005). The cost of the
control systems of AC systems is obtained by the contractor and its based on given details of sensors
and their locations on the piping system for chilled water temperature, pressure and flow rate, the
number of control devices including different types of valves and dampers and the number and type of
the input and output that actually control the systems.

Water storage cost

The cost of the chilled water storage tanks varies depending on the material, shape, location,
insulation and, more importantly, on the size of the tank. The cost of the storage tanks (excluding
diffusers and pipes) in the CWTS AC systems is obtained from a cylindrical steel tank manufacturer;
their cost is estimated based on the following data provided to the manufacturer.
The tanks have a cylindrical shape with dimensions.
The tanks should withstand a maximum pressure of 500 kPa.
The tanks are above ground steel tanks and are constructed at the site.

The cost of the insulation and aluminium cladding is also included with the cost of the steel tanks
and is approximately 12% of the total tank cost for the load levelling and 50% for the demand limiting
strategies, and about 10.9% for the full storage strategy.

Connected power cost

The power connection cost is defined as the cost of the expected maximum power withdrawn
from the utilities by the consumer at any time during the operation of the AC system, and it represents
the actual installed cost by the MEW of the power plants, electricity distribution lines, and
transformers.
The actual cost of the connected power as estimated by MEW is US$ 2043.32 per kWe. However,
MEW charges the consumer only US$ 180.51 per kWe which means that the cost of the power
connection is subsidised by 87.5%. To account for the difference in the costs of connected power for
MEW and the consumer, the LCC is determined using equation (1) for two cases using the actual cost
estimated by MEW and the subsidised cost.

Operating and Maintenance Cost

The O&M costs can make a substantial impact on the overall annual recurring cost of the AC
system, thereby dictating whether or not they are chosen. Therefore, an accurate estimation of the
operating and maintenance cost is very important for determining the accurate LCC of the AC system.
O&M costs include the costs of those incurred by the operation of the AC system such as operators,
labour wages and spare parts.

According to Al-Taqi (2000), O&M costs depend on many parameters, such as labour rates, the
experience of the workers, the age of the system, and the length of time of operation, and therefore are
difficult to quantify for this study. For example, chiller maintenance activities with chilled water
storage systems are the same as for a conventional system (Dorgani, 1994). The addition of storage
tanks in CWTS AC systems are the most obvious difference from a conventional AC system, but
incremental maintenance requirements are likely to be small. The water level in the storage tanks,
control set points, valve operation and so on, should be checked periodically, and makeup water should
be added if necessary. Furthermore, the maintenance of a chilled water storage system is similar to the
maintenance of a conventional system, except for the larger volume of chilled water and the need for
additional considerations as detailed below (Fiorino, 1991):
Low circulation rates through stratified tanks make after the fact cleaning and flushing
difficult.
 M.J. Sebzali et al. / Energy Procedia 18 (2012) 1485 – 1495 1491

The materials used in the tank construction or tank surface finishing need to be included in the
corrosion review.

Based on the technical information, such as system description, operating procedures and seasonal
start up and shut down provided to a contractor, the operating and maintenance cost (including labour
salary) is estimated to be US$ 10.78 per kWc per year for the conventional AC system and US$ 11.8
per kWc for CWTS AC systems. The additional cost US$ per kWc of the CWTS AC systems is due to
additional chemical treatment requirement for larger water volume, along with more services
associated with extra control valves and sensors.

Energy Cost
The annual electrical energy was estimated as the summation of the hourly power demand over
the complete running period of the AC system. Electrical operating costs for the AC systems are
considered to comprise those for the chillers, AHUs and primary and secondary chilled water pumps.
The annual electricity cost E, is calculated based on actual electricity of US$ 0.13 per kWeh estimated
by MEW and subsidised cost of US$ 0.007 per kWeh for the consumer.

The power demand of the chillers is determined using typical metrological year of Kuwait and
obtained building cooling load using building energy simulation program, ESP-r [ ]. The power
demand of AHU motors is obtained from the FLEX-air Version 5.08SA software program (Carrier,
2005) based on the calculated pressure drop and design volumetric flow rate of air and fans and motors
efficiencies. In addition, it was assumed that the AHU motors would run continuously throughout the
year irrespective of the cooling demand of the building; thereby, the motors would run at a constant full
speed.

Similarly, the power demand of primary and secondary pump motors is estimated base on
estimated design pressure drop, chilled water volumetric flow rate, pumps and motor efficiencies.
Primary chilled water pumps, are supposed to be running continuously at constant speed only when
chiller is in operation. In case of secondary chilled water pumps, the power demand is determined
based on the number of pumps that come into operation. The number of pumps is a function of the
volumetric flow rate of chilled water circulating through the cooling coil, which varies depending on
building cooling demand.

Water Cost
The water consumption in an air-cooled system is usually minimal since the chilled water piping
system is a closed system. The annual water consumption may result only from water leakage and from
partial water flushing during the annual maintenance of the AC system. Therefore, it is assumed that
the annual water consumption would be about 25% of the total system volume. The cost of the water
W, is calculated using MEW figures of US$ 6.90 per m3 and for the consumer of US$ 0.76 per m3.
Likewise, the actual cost of the water production, estimated by MEW is US$ 6.90 per m3, the
consumer pays only US$ 0.64 per m3, hence, the cost of the water is subsidised by 72.5%

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Cooling Production
Figure 3. shows hourly chillers cooling production in the design day for conventional, load
leveling, 50% demand limiting partial storage and full storage strategies. The chiller in a conventional
AC system directly meets the cooling demand of the building; hence the shape of the profile is similar
to the profile of the developed system cooling load as given is Section 5.1. The chiller runs most of the
time at part load and at full or nearly full load for only a few hours during the peak cooling demand
period.

Chiller in load leveling operation strategy runs at full capacity for most of the time on the design
day. When cooling demand is less than the chiller capacity, the excess cooling is stored in the tank;
when the cooling demand exceeds the chiller capacity, the additional requirement is discharged from
the tank. In 50% demand limiting partial storage, the chiller operates at 50% reduced capacity from
11:00 am to 3:00 pm and extra cooling requirement is met by the stored chilled water. In practice, this
1492 M.J. Sebzali et al. / Energy Procedia 18 (2012) 1485 – 1495

can be achieved by passing 50% of the chilled water produced by the chiller through the secondary
circuit and back to the chiller again using a two or three way valve.

The figure also shows that the chiller in full storage strategy is completely switched off during the
discharging time and the entire cooling demand is met by the stored cooling. During the charging time,
from 6:00 pm to the time when the storage tank is fully charged, the chiller is operated at full capacity
to meet the cooling demand of the building and simultaneously charge the tank.

Power Demand
The hourly chillers power demand profiles are plotted in Figure 4. The power requirement of the
conventional chiller directly increases with the increase of the cooling demand in the building. At about
2:00 pm the power is at its peak and is higher compared with chillers in CWTS AC systems. The
shapes of the power profiles in 50% demand limiting and full storage strategies, chillers have an
opposite trend compared to the conventional AC system.

450

400

350

Discharging Storage
Cooling Production (kWc)

300

250 Direct Cooling

200 Charging Storage

Charging
150

100 Conventional
Load Leveling Storage
50 50% Demand Limiting
Chiller Off
Full
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Time of Day (h)

Figure 3. Hourly chillers cooling production.

During the night time, the chillers operate at full load hence consume more power for most of the
time to produce enough cooling to meet cooling demand and simultaneously charging the tanks.
However, in the day time between 11:00 pm and 3:00 pm, the load on the chillers decreases, hence the
power demand because the cooling demand is met fully or partially by the storage tank.

Moreover, it can be observed from the Figure 4 that from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm the maximum
electrical energy is shifted by full storage strategy. The chiller is entirely switched off, and all cooling
demand is directly met from the stored cold water in the tank. However, in this design strategy, the
chiller and the storage size are larger than those of other operating strategies. In partial storage
strategies, the power demand is partially shifted. In fact, the lowest power demand is shifted when load
leveling strategy is implemented. However, in this design strategy, the chiller and storage sizes are
lowered, hence, lower capital cost. The power shifting in 50% demand limiting approach represents a
middle ground between full and load leveling strategy. The power reduction that can be achieved with
this approach depends upon the reduction of chiller capacity.

Life Cycle Cost Analysis

Tables 2 and 3 demonstrate the proportion of different expenses to LCC for MEW and consumer.
In Table 2 the cost of energy for the MEW have highest contribution to the LCC, in all AC system
designs its contribution is above 80%. The capital costs are above 10%, and the effect of operating and
 M.J. Sebzali et al. / Energy Procedia 18 (2012) 1485 – 1495 1493

maintenance, water and salvage costs are minor. However, the capital costs for consumer are highest
where the contribution to the LCC is well above 75%, and that for the operating and maintenance and
energy are above 10%.

In addition, it can be seen from the tables that the proportion of capital cost for MEW is lower
than the capital cost for consumer, and the proportion of energy cost is higher. The high and lower
energy costs for consumers do not encourage them to invest in energy efficient technologies due to
heavy government energy subsidization. However, MEW should be keen to invest in such technologies
to lower the high energy cost.

The change in LCC of the CWTS AC systems compared with the conventional AC system is
shown in Figure 5. For MEW, the LCC of CWTS AC systems are lower than that of conventional AC
system by 4.0% to 8.9% at system life time of twenty five years. Load leveling strategy is the most
attractive CWTS option not only for MEW but also for consumer. The figure also shows that the LCC
for the consumer in 50% demand limiting strategy does not differ from the conventional AC system.
However, in the case of full storage, the LCC is 7.4% higher than the conventional system.

200
Conventional
180 Load Leveling Storage
50% Demand Limiting
160
Full

140
Power Demand (kWe)

Discharging Storage
120
Direct Cooling
100

Charging Storage
80 Charging Storage

60

40

20

Chiller Off
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Time of Day (h)

Figure 4. Hourly chillers power demand.

Table 2. Proportion of Different Expenses to the LCC for the MEW.

Capital Operating and Energy Water Salvage
AC System (%) Maintenance (%) (%) (%)
(%)
Conventional 13.87 1.10 84.94 0.02 -0.08
CWTS (partial load leveling) 11.56 0.71 87.33 0.32 -0.09
CWTS (partial 50% demand
13.01 0.96 85.47 0.47 -0.10
limiting)
CWTS (full) 13.87 0.99 84.46 0.58 -0.10

Table 3. Proportion of Different Expenses to the LCC for the Consumer.

Capital Operating and Energy Water Salvage
AC System
(%) Maintenance (%) (%) (%)
1494 M.J. Sebzali et al. / Energy Procedia 18 (2012) 1485 – 1495

(%)

Conventional 76.20 13.37 11.42 0.00 -0.99

CWTS (partial load leveling) 80.90 8.53 11.64 0.05 -1.11
CWTS (partial 50% demand
79.57 10.80 10.64 0.07 -1.08
limiting)
CWTS (full) 80.07 10.79 10.15 0.08 -1.08

MEW Consumer
10
Load Leveling 50% Demand Limiting Full
7.4

5
Change in Life Cycle Cost (%)

0
-0.1

-4.0
-5

-7.5
-8.1
-8.9
-10

Figure 5. Change in LCC of CWTS AC systems compared with the conventional AC system.

CONCLUSION
The demand for electricity is growing at an average of 5.4% per year which is double word average.
CWTS system is one of the storage technology to shift the operation of AC system from day time to night time.
Two operating strategies were considered in this paper, namely partial and full storage
Economic assessment has been conducted by performing LCC analysis to determined the most cost
effective storage strategy. Furthermore, for all AC systems, the LCC was estimated for both MEW and
consumer. For MEW, the LCC for all CWTS AC systems were found to be lower compared to the
conventional AC system. In addition, the results for the LCC have shown that the CWTS operating with a load
leveling strategy is the most cost effective design for both MEW and consumer. This was mainly contributed
by the reduction in capital and energy costs. This study recommends the use of CWTS with load leveling
strategy for the cooling of buildings in Kuwait climate.

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