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A modelling methodology is developed and used to investigate the technoeconomic performance of solar combined cooling, heating and power (S-CCHP) systems based on hybrid PVT collectors. The building energy demands are inputs to a transient system model, which couples PVT solar-collectors via thermalstore to commercial absorption chillers. The real energy demands of the University Campus of Bari, investment costs, relevant electricity and gas prices are used to estimate payback-times. The results are compared to: evacuated tube collectors (ETCs) for heating and cooling provision; and a PV-system for electricity provision. A 1.68-MWp S-CCHP system can cover 20.9%, 55.1% and 16.3% of the spaceheating, cooling and electrical demands of the Campus, respectively, with roof-space availability being a major limiting factor. The payback-time is 16.7 years, 2.7-times higher than that of a PV-system. The lack of electricity generation by the ETC-based system limits its profitability, and leads to 2.3-times longer payback-time. The environmental benefits arising from the system's operation are evaluated. The S-CCHP system can displace 911 tonsCO2/year (16% and 1.4× times more than the PV-system and the ETC-based system, respectively). The influence of utility prices on the systems' economics is analysed. It is found that the sensitivity to these prices is significant.

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This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the energy, economic and environmental potentials of hybrid photovoltaicthermal (PVT) and conventional solar energy systems for combined heat and power provision. A solar combined heat and power (S-CHP) system based on PVT collectors, a solar-power system based on PV panels, a solar-thermal system based on evacuated tube collectors (ETCs), and a S-CHP system based on a combination of side-by-side PV panels and ETCs (PV-ETC) are assessed and compared. A natural gas fired internal combustion engine (ICE) CHP system is also analysed as a competing fossil-fuel based solution. Annual simulations are conducted for the provision of electricity, along with space heating, swimming pool heating and hot water to the University Sports Centre of Bari, Italy. The results show that, based on a total installation area of 4000 m 2 in all cases, the PVT S-CHP system outperforms the other systems in terms of total energy output, with annual electrical and thermal energy yields reaching 82.3 % and 51.3 % of the centre's demands respectively. As a booming solar technology, the PV system is the most profitable solar solution with the shortest payback time (9.4 years) and lowest levelised cost of energy (0.089 €/kWh). Conversely, the ETC solar-thermal system is economically inviable for the sports centre application and increasing the ETC area share in the combined PV-ETC S-CHP system is unfavourable due to the low natural gas price. Although the PVT S-CHP system has the highest investment cost, the high annual revenue from the avoided energy bills elevates its economic performance to between those of the conventional PV and ETC-based energy systems, with a payback time of 13.7 years and a levelised cost of energy of 0.109 €/kWh. At 445 tCO 2 /year, the CO 2 emission reduction potential of the PVT S-CHP system is considerably higher than those of the all other solar systems (254-317 tCO 2 /year). Compared to the solar energy systems, the ICE CHP system has the shortest payback time (6.2 years), but its CO 2 emission reduction (25 tCO 2 /year) is significantly lower. A high carbon price is beneficial for improving the cost-competitiveness of the solar energy systems, in particular the PVT S-CHP system, which would further boost its market penetration, helping to meet the carbon emission targets.

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In this paper, we investigate the adoption of working-fluid mixtures in ORC systems operating in combined heat and power (CHP) mode, with a power output provided by the expanding working fluid in the ORC turbine and a thermal energy output provided by the cooling water exiting (as a hot-water supply) the ORC condenser. We present a methodology for selecting optimal working-fluids in ORC systems with optimal CHP heat-to-electricity ratio and heat-supply temperature settings to match the seasonal variation in heat demand (temperature and intermittency of the load) of different end-users. A number of representative industrial waste-heat sources are considered by varying the ORC heat-source temperature over the range 150–330 °C. It is found that, a higher hot-water outlet temperature increases the exergy of the heat-sink stream but decreases the power output of the expander. Conversely, a low outlet temperature (~30 °C) allows for a high power-output, but a low cooling-stream exergy and hence a low potential to heat buildings or to cover other industrial thermal-energy demands. The results demonstrate that the optimal ORC shaft-power outputs vary considerably, from 9 MW up to 26 MW, while up to 10 MW of heating exergy is provided, with fuel savings in excess of 10%. It also emerges that single-component working fluids such as n-pentane appear to be optimal for fulfilling low-temperature heat demands, while working-fluid mixtures become optimal at higher heat-demand temperatures. In particular, the working-fluid mixture of 70% n-octane + 30% n-pentane results in an ORC-CHP system with the highest ORC exergy efficiency of 63% when utilizing 330 °C waste heat and delivering 90 °C hot water. The results of this research indicate that, when optimizing the global performance of ORC-CHP systems fed by industrial waste-heat sources, the temperature and load pattern of the cogenerated heat demand are crucial factors affecting the selection of the working fluid

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