University Campus and Surrounding Residential Complexes as Energy-Hub: A MILP Optimization Approach for a Smart Exchange of Solar Energy
An effective way to enlarge the utilization of renewable energy consists in creating a correct interface between producers, consumers, and storage devices, i.e., a so-called “energy hub”. This opens a difficult challenge, especially in the urban areas where the availability of room for the installat...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Energies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/11/2919 |
| _version_ | 1797565931428249600 |
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| author | Sergio Rech Stefano Casarin Carlos Santos Silva Andrea Lazzaretto |
| author_facet | Sergio Rech Stefano Casarin Carlos Santos Silva Andrea Lazzaretto |
| author_sort | Sergio Rech |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An effective way to enlarge the utilization of renewable energy consists in creating a correct interface between producers, consumers, and storage devices, i.e., a so-called “energy hub”. This opens a difficult challenge, especially in the urban areas where the availability of room for the installation of renewable plants is limited. This paper considers a university campus in the center of Lisbon that requires a significant amount of electricity and natural gas to support the internal activities. The idea is to fulfil part of the energy consumption of the campus with the excess of energy supplied by solar systems installed in the surrounding residential buildings. The goal is to find the number and type of solar equipment that maximize the reduction of annual energy costs of both residents and campus, where the campus is seen as a virtual storage. Results of the optimization show that, considering the best-exposed 100 buildings in a radius of 500 m around the campus, the campus can reduce the annual energy expenses up to 8.61%, whereas the money-saving for the residents is of the order of 24% to 29%, depending on solar exposure. A sensitivity analysis shows also the higher benefits for both the campus and users deriving from expected decreasing costs of photo-voltaic (PV) panels. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:19:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-69af94d59c8449ccb37bd46cb7211e5c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:19:53Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-69af94d59c8449ccb37bd46cb7211e5c2023-11-20T03:05:01ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732020-06-011311291910.3390/en13112919University Campus and Surrounding Residential Complexes as Energy-Hub: A MILP Optimization Approach for a Smart Exchange of Solar EnergySergio Rech0Stefano Casarin1Carlos Santos Silva2Andrea Lazzaretto3Veil Energy, 35010 Padova, ItalyDepartment of Industrial Engineering—University of Padova, 35131 Padova, ItalyDepartment of Mechanical Engineering—Technical University of Lisbon, 1049-001 Lisbon, PortugalDepartment of Industrial Engineering—University of Padova, 35131 Padova, ItalyAn effective way to enlarge the utilization of renewable energy consists in creating a correct interface between producers, consumers, and storage devices, i.e., a so-called “energy hub”. This opens a difficult challenge, especially in the urban areas where the availability of room for the installation of renewable plants is limited. This paper considers a university campus in the center of Lisbon that requires a significant amount of electricity and natural gas to support the internal activities. The idea is to fulfil part of the energy consumption of the campus with the excess of energy supplied by solar systems installed in the surrounding residential buildings. The goal is to find the number and type of solar equipment that maximize the reduction of annual energy costs of both residents and campus, where the campus is seen as a virtual storage. Results of the optimization show that, considering the best-exposed 100 buildings in a radius of 500 m around the campus, the campus can reduce the annual energy expenses up to 8.61%, whereas the money-saving for the residents is of the order of 24% to 29%, depending on solar exposure. A sensitivity analysis shows also the higher benefits for both the campus and users deriving from expected decreasing costs of photo-voltaic (PV) panels.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/11/2919solar energyphoto-voltaicsolar-thermal collectorsmixed integer linear programmingconfiguration optimization |
| spellingShingle | Sergio Rech Stefano Casarin Carlos Santos Silva Andrea Lazzaretto University Campus and Surrounding Residential Complexes as Energy-Hub: A MILP Optimization Approach for a Smart Exchange of Solar Energy Energies solar energy photo-voltaic solar-thermal collectors mixed integer linear programming configuration optimization |
| title | University Campus and Surrounding Residential Complexes as Energy-Hub: A MILP Optimization Approach for a Smart Exchange of Solar Energy |
| title_full | University Campus and Surrounding Residential Complexes as Energy-Hub: A MILP Optimization Approach for a Smart Exchange of Solar Energy |
| title_fullStr | University Campus and Surrounding Residential Complexes as Energy-Hub: A MILP Optimization Approach for a Smart Exchange of Solar Energy |
| title_full_unstemmed | University Campus and Surrounding Residential Complexes as Energy-Hub: A MILP Optimization Approach for a Smart Exchange of Solar Energy |
| title_short | University Campus and Surrounding Residential Complexes as Energy-Hub: A MILP Optimization Approach for a Smart Exchange of Solar Energy |
| title_sort | university campus and surrounding residential complexes as energy hub a milp optimization approach for a smart exchange of solar energy |
| topic | solar energy photo-voltaic solar-thermal collectors mixed integer linear programming configuration optimization |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/11/2919 |
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