Reference · built on requestOperator by FibricEnergy & demand

Thermal Storage

Ice or chilled-water tank state read with the forecast and your rate periods; a nightly charge target and daytime discharge plan proposed.

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About

A storage tank charged to the same level every night either runs dry on a hot afternoon or wastes the off-peak hours it was bought for. This operator reads tank inventory, mode, and temperatures from the chiller plant controls over BACnet/IP, the hourly forecast for the site's gridpoint from the National Weather Service, and the on-peak and off-peak periods of your rate from the OpenEI Utility Rate Database.

Each evening it proposes a charge target for the night and a discharge plan for the day, with the reserve you require at the end of the peak period. The plant operator approves, the declared points are written, and the next morning's actual is compared with the target.

This is a reference listing. It documents what Fibric would read from Thermal Storage and what it could propose, based on the vendor's published interfaces. Fibric builds it under a managed deployment when you request it; selecting it here installs nothing.

Inputs

  • Tank state from the chiller plant controls over BACnet/IP: ice inventory or tank level, charge and discharge mode, and supply and return temperatures
  • Chiller status and run state, and the trend logs the platform keeps for plant load
  • The hourly forecast for your site from api.weather.gov: temperature, dewpoint, and relative humidity from the gridpoint
  • Active heat advisories and warnings for your zone from the alerts endpoint
  • Your rate's on-peak and off-peak periods from URDB: the energy and demand schedules by month and hour
  • Yesterday's actual charge and discharge, so tonight's target is corrected against what the plant did

Proposed actions

  • Target capability: propose tonight's charge target for the tank, sized from the forecast load and the off-peak window on your rate
  • Target capability: propose the daytime discharge plan: the hours to run from storage and the hours the chillers carry load
  • Target capability: propose the setpoint or mode writes to the plant's declared points through the platform, applied only after approval
  • Target capability: propose holding discharge when a heat warning is issued and the tank would empty before the peak period ends
  • Target capability: propose a plant note when the tank missed its target, with the chiller status it observed overnight

Proposed actions are target capabilities. Every action runs propose-first and needs a validated deployment and the appropriate permissions.

What you can build

  • Ice storage on a time-of-use rate

    The tank is charged overnight to a target sized from tomorrow's hourly temperatures and discharged through the hours URDB marks as on-peak, with the plant operator approving each evening's plan.

    With BACnet / IP, OpenEI Utility Rate Database

  • A heat-warning week

    An excessive heat warning for the zone raises the charge target and proposes holding discharge until the peak period, so the tank is not empty by mid-afternoon on the Niagara-controlled plant.

    With Weather & Severe Alerts, Tridium Niagara

  • A chilled-water plant on Metasys

    Tank level and return temperature from Metasys are read against the forecast, and the discharge plan is written to the declared mode point only after the operator approves it.

    With Johnson Metasys, Weather & Severe Alerts

Requirements

  • Chiller plant controls over BACnet/IP exposing tank inventory, mode, and temperature points, and the points you allow it to write
  • Your site's coordinates for the NWS gridpoint, and a User-Agent string with contact details for requests to api.weather.gov
  • The URDB record for your rate, or the tariff's period schedule
  • The plant's charge rate, tank capacity, and the minimum reserve you require at the end of the peak period
Authentication
It has no login to the plant. Points are read and written through the platform connector's account, limited to the objects you declare; NWS needs only a User-Agent with your contact details; URDB uses your OpenEI key.

Limits

  • The forecast is the NWS hourly forecast, refreshed as NWS refreshes it. A forecast miss becomes a target miss that the next day's correction sees.
  • It plans within your minimum reserve. Comfort setpoints stay with the platform; it does not lower them to stretch the tank.
  • Writes go to the points you declared, as the platform exposes them. Plant sequences on the controller are not rewritten.
  • A demand charge is treated by its period schedule. A ratchet the rate applies across months is not modelled.

Access and pricing

Reference listing. Fibric builds the operator under a managed deployment when you request it. Your quote covers the build, capabilities, usage, and support.

Request Thermal Storage ↗

Questions and answers

What does the plant operator approve?
One plan per day: the charge target, the discharge hours, the forecast and rate periods used, and the reserve left at the end of peak. The operator can edit the target or the hours, approve, or decline.
What is kept for each day's plan?
A receipt per plan: the forecast and rate data read, the points written with their values before, who approved, when, and the next morning's actual charge against the target.
Does it change the plant on its own?
No. A day's plan is written only after approval, once. A new heat warning produces a revised proposal; the plant keeps running the approved plan until someone accepts the revision.
Ask about Thermal Storage

Ask about the capabilities and requirements in this listing.

For project-specific requirements, contact Fibric.

This operator is developed, published, and supported by Fibric. Third-party names and logos identify the systems an integration connects to; they are the property of their respective owners, who are not affiliated with Fibric and do not sponsor or endorse this listing. Trademark policy