Variable refrigerant flow system with predictive control

An air conditioning system for a building, the air conditioning system comprising:

• an outdoor air conditioning unit comprising one or more powered air conditioning components configured to apply heating or cooling to a refrigerant;
• an indoor air conditioning units configured to receive the heated or cooled refrigerant from the outdoor air conditioning unit and to use the heated or cooled refrigerant to provide heating or cooling to a plurality of building zones;
• and
• an air conditioning controller configured to select reception of electric energy from a first energy source and reception electric energy from a battery for use in powering the outdoor air conditioning unit using a parameter related to cost.

A method for operating an air conditioning system, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a controller of the air conditioning system, energy pricing data defining energy prices for each of a plurality of time steps in an optimization period;
• using the energy pricing data as inputs to a predictive cost function that defines a cost of operating the air conditioning system over a duration of the optimization period;
• optimizing the predictive cost function to determine optimal power setpoints for one or more powered components of the air conditioning system and for a battery of the air conditioning system;
• using the optimal power setpoints to generate temperature setpoints for a zone temperature or refrigerant temperature affected by the air conditioning system;
• using the temperature setpoints to generate control signals for the powered components of the air conditioning system;
• and
• operating the powered components of the air conditioning system to achieve the temperature setpoints.