Electrical energy balance contest in Solar Decathlon Europe 2012

Abstract

Solar Decathlon Europe (SDE) is an international multidisciplinary competition in which 20 university teams build and operate energy-efficient solar-powered houses. The aim of SDE is not only scientific but also educational and divulgative, making visitors to understand the problems presented by real engineering applications and architecture. From a research perspective, the energy data gathered during the competition constitutes a very promising information for the analysis and understanding of the photovoltaic systems, grid structures, energy balances and energy efficiency of the set of houses. This article focuses on the electrical energy components of SDE competition, the energy performance of the houses and the strategies and behaviors followed by the teams. The rules evaluate the houses' electrical energy self-sufficiency by looking at the electricity autonomy in terms of aggregated electrical energy balance; the temporary generation-consumption profile pattern correlation; and the use of electricity per measurable area. Although the houses are evaluated under the same climatological and consumption conditions, production results are very different due to the specific engineering solutions (different electrical topologies, presence or absence of batteries, diverse photovoltaic module solutions, etc.).

Building energy-consumption status worldwide and the state-of-the-art technologies for zero-energy buildings during the past decade

“…The scientific knowledge behind the Solar Decathlon can be found in a special issue in Energy and Buildings [121], such as passive solutions [122], electrical energy balance [123] and BIPV [124], etc. This competition provide a great opportunity to share the latest design strategies and demonstration of ZEB to the industry and public.…”

Towards an optimized zero energy solar house: A critical analysis of passive and active design strategies used in Solar Decathlon Europe in Madrid

“…Cronemberger et al (2014) highlighted advances, tendencies and solutions through SDE houses and summarized that these houses ran exclusively on solar energy, as part of the requirements of this worldwide competition. Iimuraet al (2014) and Matallanas et al (2014) introduced the electrical system development and design of solar houses in SDE 2012. Serra Soriano et al (2014), from construction point of view, introduced a SML system which was used in SDE for assembling prefabricated and industrialized elements.…”

Energy performance evaluation of a marketable net-zero-energy house: Solark I at Solar Decathlon China 2013

“…The objective of the participating teams is to design, build and operate solar-energy-based homes that consume as few natural resources as possible and produce minimal waste during their lifecycles. Particular emphasis is placed on reducing energy consumption and obtaining all necessary energy from the sun [4,5].…”