Bridging Control and Deployment: A Cross-Layer Analysis of Scalable Building Cluster Control

Sen Huang; Wangda Zuo

doi:10.59717/ipj.energy-use.2026.100049

Energy Use > 2026 Vol. 2 > No. 2 > 100049

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Bridging Control and Deployment: A Cross-Layer Analysis of Scalable Building Cluster Control

Sen Huang^1, ,,
Wangda Zuo^2,3

1.
Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
2.
Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802, USA
3.
National Laboratory of the Rockies, Golden 80401, USA

Fund Project: Sen Huang is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. This work was authored by the National Laboratory of the Rockies for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding provided by U.S. Department of Energy Office of Critical Materials and Energy Innovation Office. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes

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Corresponding author: senhuang237@tongji.edu.cn
Received Date: May 10, 2026

Accepted Date: June 10, 2026

Published Online: June 25, 2026

Energy Use 2(2), https://doi.org/10.59717/ipj.energy-use.2026.100049 | Cite this article

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PUBLIC SUMMARY

PUBLIC SUMMARY
1. Building cluster control faces slow large-scale rollout, and the issue is not merely limited to control algorithms.
  
  Barriers cover technical aspects like device heterogeneity and communication issues, plus non-technical ones such as stakeholder coordination and data governance.
  
  The paper summarizes existing solutions including interoperability frameworks, distributed control and policy reforms.
  
  Two core research directions are proposed: realistic test infrastructures and standardized flexibility abstraction methods.
  
  This review offers a systematic reference for scaling up grid-friendly building cluster control.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

Building cluster control has emerged as a promising approach for enabling flexible and coordinated operation of distributed building systems, yet its transition from pilot demonstrations to routine grid-interactive operation remains limited. This paper argues that this gap cannot be explained by control algorithms alone. Instead, it arises from interacting barriers in communication infrastructure, data and semantic interoperability, uncertainty management, stakeholder participation, market design, and policy support. Accordingly, the paper reviews both technical and non-technical barriers to building cluster control. Technical challenges include heterogeneous devices and protocols, communication latency and reliability, distributed decision-making, and uncertainty propagation across aggregated loads. Non-technical barriers include user participation, stakeholder coordination, incentive allocation, and data governance. Existing solution approaches are synthesized, including semantic interoperability frameworks, edge and hierarchical communication architectures, distributed and transactive control strategies, uncertainty-aware optimization, policy mechanisms, and market reforms. Based on this analysis, two research directions are identified: testing infrastructures that can evaluate control performance under realistic multi-building conditions, and abstraction methods that allow building clusters to interact with other energy sectors through standardized flexibility representations. Overall, the paper provides a structured review of how building cluster control can move from isolated demonstrations toward reproducible, market-compatible, and grid-relevant implementation.
- Building cluster control /
- communication /
- distributed control /
- hierarchical coordination /
- interoperability

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Huang S. and Zuo W. (2026). Bridging Control and Deployment: A Cross-Layer Analysis of Scalable Building Cluster Control. Energy Use 2:100049. https://doi.org/10.59717/ipj.energy-use.2026.100049

Huang S. and Zuo W. (2026). Bridging Control and Deployment: A Cross-Layer Analysis of Scalable Building Cluster Control. Energy Use 2:100049. https://doi.org/10.59717/ipj.energy-use.2026.100049

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