Dynamic Simulation of a Solar Electric Driven Heat Pump Integrated with Electric Storage for an Office Building Located in Southern Italy

Abstract

The paper examines a solar electric driven heat pump serving an office building located in southern Italy. To satisfy space heating and cooling demand a heat pump activated by electric energy available from solar photovoltaic plant equipped with an electric storage is here considered. Dynamic simulations to evaluate the thermo-economic performance of this system, varying photovoltaic peak power (4.5-7.5 kW) and electric battery capacity (3.2-9.6 kWh), are carried out. The proposed system achieves primary energy saving and equivalent dioxide carbon emission reduction up to about 82 % in comparison to the reference conventional system based on a natural gas fired boiler and an electric chiller. The results show that the solar energy system is more competitive when there is no battery storage and government incentives will be provided.

Performance indicators of photovoltaic heat-pumps

“…For example, references [90] and [97] report a whole year of operation in two regions of the planet with similar climatic conditions (Naples and Alicante) and both of the systems described are OPV, grid-connected and for space heating and cooling. However, they are only completely comparable if we disregard the HP technology, because one of them uses an A-W HP while the other uses an A-A.…”

“…As previously discussed in this section, the conditions under which these studies were performed are different, as well as the HP technology used and the application of the system. Following the example used for the discussion of Table 4, we are going to discuss the KPIs obtained for references [90] and [97]. Both systems are used for space heating and cooling and they report the nominal values of COP and EER, but such values are higher for the reference [97] (corresponding to an A-A HP) than for [90] (which is A-W).…”

“…Following the example used for the discussion of Table 4, we are going to discuss the KPIs obtained for references [90] and [97]. Both systems are used for space heating and cooling and they report the nominal values of COP and EER, but such values are higher for the reference [97] (corresponding to an A-A HP) than for [90] (which is A-W). As for the ratio of the nominal power of the PV generator and the HP, it is higher for reference [90], which also has a higher SF PV as expected.…”

“…Both systems are used for space heating and cooling and they report the nominal values of COP and EER, but such values are higher for the reference [97] (corresponding to an A-A HP) than for [90] (which is A-W). As for the ratio of the nominal power of the PV generator and the HP, it is higher for reference [90], which also has a higher SF PV as expected. However, its SCR is surprisingly higher than the one of reference [97], which seems contradictory with the higher power ratio.…”

Integration between electric heat pump and PV system to increase self-consumption of an office application

“…To satisfy space heating and cooling demand of an office building a heat pump activated by electric energy available from solar photovoltaic plant equipped with an electric storage is considered by Roselli et al [14]. Thermoeconomic analysis varying PV peak power and electric battery capacity is carried out through TRNSYS.…”