Energy Evaluation of a PV-Based Test Facility for Assessing Future Self-Sufficient Buildings

Abstract

In recent years, investigations on advanced technological solutions aiming to achieve high-energy performance in buildings have been carried out by research centers and universities, in accordance with the reduction in buildings’ energy consumption required by European Union. However, even if the research and design of new technological solutions makes it possible to achieve the regulatory objectives, a building’s performance during operation deviates from simulations. To deepen this topic, interesting studies have focused on testing these solutions on full-scale facilities used for real-life activities. In this context, a test facility will be built in the university campus of Politecnico di Torino (Italy). The facility has been designed to be an all-electric nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB), where heating and cooling demand will be fulfilled by an air-source heat pump and photovoltaic generators will meet the energy demand. In this paper, the facility energy performance is evaluated through a dynamic simulation model. To improve energy self-sufficiency, the integration of lithium-ion batteries in a HVAC system is investigated and their storage size is optimized. Moreover, the facility has been divided into three units equipped with independent electric systems with the aim of estimating the benefits of local energy sharing. The simulation results clarify that the facility meets the expected energy performance, and that it is consistent with a typical European nZEB. The results also demonstrate that the local use of photovoltaic energy can be enhanced thanks to batteries and local energy sharing, achieving a greater independence from the external electrical grid. Furthermore, the analysis of the impact of the local energy sharing makes the case study of particular interest, as it represents a simplified approach to the energy community concept. Thus, the results clarify the academic potential for this facility, in terms of both research and didactic purposes.

An innovative heterogeneous transfer learning framework to enhance the scalability of deep reinforcement learning controllers in buildings with integrated energy systems

“…A modular Lithium-ion BESS is implemented in the simulation environment by employing a Python class as defined in the literature (Amato et al 2021;Brandi et al 2022b) that simply emulates the BESS operation by estimating the SOC BESS since the BESS degradation is not considered. However, this approach is sufficiently accurate for conducting an initial assessment of the effects of BESS installation.…”

“…Moreover, to safeguard the health of the battery and optimise its performance, SOC levels are bounded by minimum and maximum values, as indicated by the manufacturer. For a Li-ion BESS technology, these values are set respectively at 10% and 90% of the total capacity, allowing for a total Depth of Charge (DoC)/Depth of Discharge (DoD) of 80% (Amato et al 2021).…”

State-of-the-Art Technologies for Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Systems

“…The result indicated that the proposed system provided indoor temperature on mild and severe winter season and free-floating mode achieved the best thermal comfort than other modes. Investigating the interactions effects between the building envelope and the HVAC systems is fundamental to maintain the NZEBs [183].…”

“…the best thermal comfort than other modes. Investigating the interactions effects between the building envelope and the HVAC systems is fundamental to maintain the NZEBs [183]. The prerequisite information of technology, performance, and the parameters to operate and design the integrated HVAC and domestic hot water (DHW) production systems for buildings were presented by [184].…”

On the Effect of the Time Interval Base and Home Appliance on the Renewable Quota of a Building in an Alpine Location

“…Savolainen and Lahdelma [10] study optimized control by managing thermal storage and batteries on the basis on the coming 15 min power balance settlement. Amato et al [11] and Kotarela et al [12] demonstrate that the local use of photovoltaic energy can be enhanced thanks to batteries and local energy sharing, to obtain self-sufficient buildings, near to nZEB parameters. Similarly, in [13,14], the benefit of renewable energy communities in the self-consumption (SCF) of PV production emerges.…”