Self-Sufficiency and Energy Savings of Renewable Thermal Energy Systems for an Energy-Sharing Community

Abstract

Due to increased grid problems caused by renewable energy systems being used to realize zero energy buildings and communities, the importance of energy sharing and self-sufficiency of renewable energy also increased. In this study, the energy performance of an energy-sharing community was investigated to improve its energy efficiency and renewable energy self-sufficiency. For a case study, a smart village was selected via detailed simulation. In this study, the thermal energy for cooling, heating, and domestic hot water was produced by ground source heat pumps, which were integrated with thermal energy storage (TES) with solar energy systems. We observed that the ST system integrated with TES showed higher self-sufficiency with grid interaction than the PV and PVT systems. This was due to the heat pump system being connected to thermal energy storage, which was operated as an energy storage system. Consequently, we also found that the ST system had a lower operating energy, CO2 emissions, and operating costs compared with the PV and PVT systems.

Energy Performance Investigation of Bi-Directional Convergence Energy Prosumers for an Energy Sharing Community

“…heat produced by the building itself [23][24][25]. In a previous study [19], a centralized energy sharing system for communities was proposed and investigated. Individual PV system were installed on the roofs of each house, and shared electric energy was produce through a shared PV system installed in a common area.…”

“…The case study community was a smart village located in the Busan Eco Delta Smart City. The village comprises 56 single-family houses and community centers (Figure 3) [19]. The village has a site area of 7202 m 2 , a building area of 2200 m 2 , and a total floor area of 3620 m 2 .…”

“…Thus far, prosumers have been trading via the P2G format between themselves and central energy suppliers. However, a new mode of trading is required for renewable and distributed energy sharing within communities to expand the amount of renewable energy supplied at the community level [19][20][21]. The employment of low-carbon energy-sharing communities is one such approach to spread and disseminate zero-energy communities.…”

“…In recent years, various studies have been conducted in communities where energy sharing is possible to design measures to share or trade surplus power produced by a PV system installed in a single building with the neighborhood, to produce heat through a power-to-heat (P2H) mechanism where excess power is converted to heat [22], or to store heat produced by the building itself [23][24][25]. In a previous study [19], a centralized energy-sharing system for communities was proposed and investigated. Individual PV systems were installed on the roofs of each house, and shared electric energy was produced through a shared PV system installed in a common area.…”

Feasibility of Low Carbon Renewable Energy City Integrated with Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems

“…Most such studies have been focused on the design of systems optimized for power supply in middle-income countries or in the residential sector [15]. In addition, various studies have been conducted on the energy saving effect in buildings or communities when PV, solar thermal (ST), or photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) systems are used [16][17][18]. The effect of using PV, ST, and PVT systems in the same area has also been analyzed [19,20].…”