Real Time Pricing Tie Line Control: A Case Study

Abstract

A Tie Line Control System maintains the purchase quantity of electrical energy an industrial facility buys from a utility company. Implementing an advanced Tie Line Control system automates the buy versus make decision process for an industrial facility in order to optimize the use of energy by either a supply-side method or a demand-side method. If a facility possesses supply-side resources, such as self-generation, the user can choose to maximize on-site energy generation, when it is less expensive than the price offered by the utility. Conversely, when the price to buy energy is less expensive than it is to produce it, a facility may choose to back off on self-generation and buy more energy. One such Advanced Tie Line Control system, designed by Automation Applications, Incorporated (AAI) and installed at a pilot facility, utilizes a real-time pricing utility contract and provides savings approaching one million dollars per year. This paper is a case study of this system implementation and the results achieved.