The heat storage capacity of the building can be regarded as a virtual energy storage device

which can participate in demand response to reduce the operating costs and peak load of the system. Accordingly

the optimization model of a combined cooling

heating and power (CCHP) -ground source heat pump(GSHP) coupling system with virtual energy storage (VES) is established and an economic dispatch strategy from the perspective of electrical load and thermal load is proposed. Firstly

a charging and discharging energy model of VES is established

based on the comfortable temperature range of human body and building performance. Secondly

an optimization model for the CCHP-GSHP coupling system is formed to minimize the daily operating costs of the system. The VES affects the operating costs through the connection with thermal load

whose power is restricted by the rate of temperature change. Finally

taking the winter scene as an example

the optimal dispatch analysis of two typical buildings is carried out with respect to electrical load and thermal load

and the simulation results are analyzed in terms of economic efficiency. The simulation results validate that the adoption of virtual energy storage can reduce the operating cost.