A central controller for controlling power consumption in a thermal energy system is disclosed, the energy system may include a plurality of heat pump assemblies and a plurality of cooling machine assemblies, each heat pump assembly being connected to a thermal energy circuit comprising a hot conduit and a cold conduit via a thermal heating circuit inlet connected to the hot conduit and via a thermal heating circuit outlet connected to the cold conduit, each cooling machine assembly being connected to the thermal energy circuit via a thermal cooling circuit inlet connected to the cold conduit and via a thermal cooling circuit outlet connected to the hot conduit.