Owing to its thermal inertia

the air-conditioning load can be rationally controlled without much affecting user comfort using demand side management measures to reduce peak load of the power grid. Compared with the household air-conditioning

central air-conditioning has huge potential of participating in demand response programs for its flexible means of control

strong controllability and high output power. This paper develops a load cutting potential model of central air-conditioning cluster based on direct load control(DLC)

and the operation mode solving model for the central air-conditioning cluster under designated cutting load capacity. Finally

through a simulation example

the influences of five factors(including room temperature setting range during an emergency demand response event

the duration of emergency demand response event

advance notice of time under the pre-cooling mode

the load amplification before and after the emergency demand response event

and the outdoor temperature)on the load cutting potential of central air-conditioning cluster are qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed

providing a theoretical basis for bringing central air-conditioning load into power network dispatching. This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(No. 71471036)and State Grid Corporation of China.