Potential of Photovoltaic Panels on Building Envelopes for Decentralized District Energy Systems
The expected increase of the penetration of distributed renewable energy technologies into the electricity grid is expected to lead to major challenges. As a main stakeholder, authorities often lack the appropriate tools to frame and encourage the transition and monitor the impact of energy transiti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Energy Research |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2021.689781/full |
| _version_ | 1819022379069734912 |
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| author | Luise Middelhauve Luc Girardin Francesco Baldi François Maréchal |
| author_facet | Luise Middelhauve Luc Girardin Francesco Baldi François Maréchal |
| author_sort | Luise Middelhauve |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The expected increase of the penetration of distributed renewable energy technologies into the electricity grid is expected to lead to major challenges. As a main stakeholder, authorities often lack the appropriate tools to frame and encourage the transition and monitor the impact of energy transition policies. This paper aims at combining relatively detailed modeling of the PV generation potential on the building’s envelope while retaining the energy system optimization approach. The problem is addressed as a multiobjective, mixed-integer linear programming problem. Compared to the existing literature in the field, the proposed approach combines advanced modeling of the energy generation potential from PV panels with detailed representation of the district energy systems, thus allowing an accurate representation of the interaction between the energy generation from PV and the rest of the system. The proposed approach was applied to a typical residential district in Switzerland. The results of the application of the proposed method show that the district can achieve carbon neutrality based on PV energy alone, but this requires covering all the available district’s rooftops and part of the district’s facades. Whereas facades are generally disregarded due to their lower generation potential, the results also allow concluding that facade PV can be economically convenient for a wide range of electricity prices, including those currently used by the Swiss grid operators. Achieving self-sufficiency at district scale is challenging: it can be achieved by covering approximately 42–100% of the available surface when the round-trip efficiency decreases from 100 to 50%. The results underline the importance of storage for achieving self-sufficiency: even with 100%, round-trip efficiency for the storage, very large capacities are required. However, energy demand reduction through renovation would allow reaching self-sufficiency with half of the PV and storage capacity required. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T04:22:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6964b9157d4e47e697cb323b9d1883e9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-598X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T04:22:03Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Energy Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-6964b9157d4e47e697cb323b9d1883e92022-12-21T19:16:09ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Energy Research2296-598X2021-10-01910.3389/fenrg.2021.689781689781Potential of Photovoltaic Panels on Building Envelopes for Decentralized District Energy SystemsLuise Middelhauve0Luc Girardin1Francesco Baldi 2François Maréchal3Industrial Processes and Energy Systems Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Sion, SwitzerlandIndustrial Processes and Energy Systems Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Sion, SwitzerlandItalian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Bologna, ItalyIndustrial Processes and Energy Systems Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Sion, SwitzerlandThe expected increase of the penetration of distributed renewable energy technologies into the electricity grid is expected to lead to major challenges. As a main stakeholder, authorities often lack the appropriate tools to frame and encourage the transition and monitor the impact of energy transition policies. This paper aims at combining relatively detailed modeling of the PV generation potential on the building’s envelope while retaining the energy system optimization approach. The problem is addressed as a multiobjective, mixed-integer linear programming problem. Compared to the existing literature in the field, the proposed approach combines advanced modeling of the energy generation potential from PV panels with detailed representation of the district energy systems, thus allowing an accurate representation of the interaction between the energy generation from PV and the rest of the system. The proposed approach was applied to a typical residential district in Switzerland. The results of the application of the proposed method show that the district can achieve carbon neutrality based on PV energy alone, but this requires covering all the available district’s rooftops and part of the district’s facades. Whereas facades are generally disregarded due to their lower generation potential, the results also allow concluding that facade PV can be economically convenient for a wide range of electricity prices, including those currently used by the Swiss grid operators. Achieving self-sufficiency at district scale is challenging: it can be achieved by covering approximately 42–100% of the available surface when the round-trip efficiency decreases from 100 to 50%. The results underline the importance of storage for achieving self-sufficiency: even with 100%, round-trip efficiency for the storage, very large capacities are required. However, energy demand reduction through renovation would allow reaching self-sufficiency with half of the PV and storage capacity required.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2021.689781/fulldistrict energy systemsphotovoltaic systemsroof orientationfacadesenergy storagerenewable energies |
| spellingShingle | Luise Middelhauve Luc Girardin Francesco Baldi François Maréchal Potential of Photovoltaic Panels on Building Envelopes for Decentralized District Energy Systems Frontiers in Energy Research district energy systems photovoltaic systems roof orientation facades energy storage renewable energies |
| title | Potential of Photovoltaic Panels on Building Envelopes for Decentralized District Energy Systems |
| title_full | Potential of Photovoltaic Panels on Building Envelopes for Decentralized District Energy Systems |
| title_fullStr | Potential of Photovoltaic Panels on Building Envelopes for Decentralized District Energy Systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Potential of Photovoltaic Panels on Building Envelopes for Decentralized District Energy Systems |
| title_short | Potential of Photovoltaic Panels on Building Envelopes for Decentralized District Energy Systems |
| title_sort | potential of photovoltaic panels on building envelopes for decentralized district energy systems |
| topic | district energy systems photovoltaic systems roof orientation facades energy storage renewable energies |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2021.689781/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT luisemiddelhauve potentialofphotovoltaicpanelsonbuildingenvelopesfordecentralizeddistrictenergysystems AT lucgirardin potentialofphotovoltaicpanelsonbuildingenvelopesfordecentralizeddistrictenergysystems AT francescobaldi potentialofphotovoltaicpanelsonbuildingenvelopesfordecentralizeddistrictenergysystems AT francoismarechal potentialofphotovoltaicpanelsonbuildingenvelopesfordecentralizeddistrictenergysystems |