The Impact of System Integration on System Costs of a Neighborhood Energy and Water System

Abstract

The fossil-based energy system is transitioning towards a renewable energy system. One important aspect is the spatial and temporal mismatch between intermitted supply and continuous demand. To ensure a reliable and affordable energy system, we propose an integrated system approach that integrates electricity production, mobility, heating of buildings and water management with a major role for storage and conversion. The minimization of energy transport in such an integrated system indicates the need for local optimization. This study focuses on a comparison between different novel system designs for neighborhood energy and water systems with varying modes of system integration, including all-electric, power-to-heat and power-to-hydrogen. A simulation model is developed to determine the energy and water balance and carry out economic analysis to calculate the system costs of various scenarios. We show that system costs are the lowest in a scenario that combines a hydrogen boiler and heat pumps for household heating; or a power-to-X system that combines power-to-heat, seasonal heat storage, and power-to-hydrogen (2070 €/household/year). Scenarios with electricity as the main energy carrier have higher retrofitting costs for buildings (insulation + heat pump), which leads to higher system costs (2320–2370 €/household/year) than more integrated systems. We conclude that diversification in energy carriers can contribute to a smooth transition of existing residential areas.

Towards Sustainable Heat Supply with Decentralized Multi-Energy Systems by Integration of Subsurface Seasonal Heat Storage

“…Here it was shown that a scenario with HT-ATES led to the most balanced energy demand profile compared to an all-electric and hydrogen scenario, the highest amount of local electricity use, and lower costs for households (250-300 €/year) compared to an all-electric scenario [25]. To further explore the novel application of HT-ATES in a MES, a more detailed description and evaluation of different innovative designs for the combined HT-ATES and heat pump system is necessary.…”

“…To do this, a detailed model of a multi-energy system is expanded and integrated with a numerical hydro-thermal model to simulate the functioning of a HT-ATES system. The integration of the multi-energy system and the HT-ATES system is applied in a case study of a neighbourhood in Nieuwegein (The Netherlands) that has been the focus of earlier work on a multi-energy and water system [13,[24][25][26][27]. In this decentralized multi-energy system, renewable electricity (PV) is converted to high temperature heat and stored in the HT-ATES system during summer.…”

“…To analyse different layouts for future multi-energy systems (in neighbourhoods) a simulation model was developed that matches supply and demand on an hourly basis and integrates different renewable energy sources, conversion and storage mechanisms [13,25]. In Figure 2, an overview of the model components is given, with a highlight on the aspects that are the focus of this study.…”

“…In Figure 2, an overview of the model components is given, with a highlight on the aspects that are the focus of this study. Most of the modelling methodology has been explained in detail earlier, including both energy and water aspects [13,24,25]; here we focus on the coupling between the multi-energy system model and HT-ATES integration. The Python simulations of different model setups are done with an hourly time step for 10 years.…”

“…Probably, there is a lack of attention for including seasonal storage in MES because methods for the evaluation of integration based on cost-effectiveness and robustness are lacking [12,14,19,20]. In previous work [13,24], we evaluated the potential benefit of a high temperature aquifer thermal energy storage (HT-ATES) system that is used for seasonal heat storage in a multi-energy system, and compared four MES designs [25].…”