Challenges in energy systems for the smart-cities of the future

Abstract

In the last years the European Union has actively promoted the renewable energies and the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) also for residential and tertiary buildings. The exploitation of renewable sources and cogeneration seems hampered by the regulatory wall that prohibit for residential, tertiary and commercial buildings the constitution of users clusters. In fact, the unification up to a threshold value of some tens of kVA, at least, can facilitate the installation of renewable energy power plants as solar PV modules or CHP systems (cogeneration) or CCHP systems (tri-generation), overcoming technical and economical barriers and combining several load profiles. The actual distribution system for low voltage LV customers appears inadequate to comply with these goals. At this aim the authors propose the design of a Sustainable Energy Microsystem (SEM) for the integration of different subsystems, currently independent, as final users and high efficiency buildings, dispersed generation from renewable and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units and subsystems for the urban mobility: metro-transit, trams and recharging of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles (PHEV) for the surface mobility. The integration is analyzed in the direction of a smart city concept, with the optimized and integrated management of many services. These activities are about the general topic of design and construction of nearly zero energy buildings with the use of innovative technologies as home and building automation. The buildings integrated in energy hub with dispersed generation and urban mobility systems, constitute the energy islands of the future smart grid. © 2012 IEEE

RETRACTED: A New Method to Energy Saving in a Micro Grid

“…The redundant connections that could be established between input and output inside the energy-hub have two significant consequences: an increase of reliability of resources supply and the most advantageous choice among the various options. Brenna et al [9] proposed a model that allows integration between different independent subsystems, such as final users and high efficiency buildings, with CHP in a Sustainable Energy Microsystem (SEM), aimed at the management of the city of the future, the smart-city. It is necessary to communicate with a "smart grid" by exchanging information and by controlling the energy flows, in order to produce: an increase of energy saving, a reduction of pollutant emissions, the possibility of realize stand-alone systems, relieving congestion in the electric grid during the peak hours of the day [10].…”

Application of Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks to Achieve Intelligent Microgrids: A Promising Approach towards a Global Smart Grid Deployment

“…Nowadays, some generation solutions based on interactions between different technologies already exist: combined heat and power (CHP), electric heat pumps (EHP), air conditioning devices, and trigeneration systems (electricity, heat and cooling). CHP is the most studied by the scientific community in various environments: Smart Grids [111], microgrids [112] or smart cities [113,114].…”

Implementing an energy harvesting technology within the concept of Smart city

“…These studies consider such points as new sources of energy, rational use of energy, reducing energy costs, designing buildings with high energy efficiency, the use of electric vehicles, the use of photovoltaic panels [5], the Smart Grid system, and the promotion of cogeneration. Attention is given to modelling loads, varying loads depending on weather conditions, continuity of power supply, reliability and safety in emergency situations [6].…”