Simplifications of Simulation on Energy Balances and Estimations of a Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Use in Cold Climate Regions

Abstract

A simplified double grade meteorological data model for the simulation of the annual performance of a domestic-size renewable energy system is proposed. With the model, only two representative days (clearest and cloudiest) during each season of the year are necessary to estimate annual energy balances, carbon emissions and the running costs. The model was chosen in preference to other simplified models based on the error distributions from the results of the continuous simulations in a test period. Detailed numerical simulation studies show that the carbon emissions from the renewable energy system are about 16% of a comparable conventional system. The thermal energy produced by a solar collector during the winter season, however, is insufficient to meet all the loads so that frequent heat pump operations and the auxiliary boiler are necessary in cold climate regions.

Optimization of Domestic-Size Renewable Energy System Designs Suitable for Cold Climate Regions

“…was used for all the renewable energy system configurations. The simplified meteorological data models as well as the system components' models used in the simulations have been described in details in our previous work (8) . They are briefly summarised as follows.…”

“…Detailed numerical studies for this system have already been completed in our previous work (8) . The system uses a single large water storage tank of capacity 0.5 m 3 (500 Litres) and the tank is assumed to be well mixed and at a uniform temperature at all times.…”

“…It is therefore imperative that ways to reduce residential energy consumption and GHG emissions be explored in order to meet the set target for the reduction of global GHG emissions. In the previous work (8) , we carried out detailed numerical studies for a particular configuration of domestic-size renewable energy system for use in cold climate regions. In order to estimate the annual energy balances of the system, two representative days (clearest and cloudiest) during each season of the year were used to compute the energy balances.…”

Simulation and Feasibility Study on a 'Renewable Energy House' with a Geothermal Heat Pump-Powered Floor Heating System in Cold Climate Regions

“…The authors had developed PV/thermal hybrid collectors to get maximum energy gain from solar radiation (2) . For cold climate regions, however, the use of thermal collectors is severely limited during cold seasons, due to excessive low ambient temperatures and minimal available solar radiation (3), (4) . In these regions, it is increasingly becoming more fashionable to harness and use geothermal energy, which source temperature is more stable and warmer in winter than the ambient temperature, for water heating.…”

“…In the previous work we proposed a very simple and highly accurate numerical simulation method which estimated annual energy balances of a renewable energy system with GHP and solar PV/thermal collectors (3) . Annual running costs and CO 2 emissions in several renewable energy systems including a GHP were evaluated using the simulation method and the optimum systems were proposed (4) .…”