Solar combined cooling, heating and power systems based on hybrid PVT, PV or solar-thermal collectors for building applications

Abstract

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.

Techno-Economic Feasibility of a Grid-Connected Hybrid Renewable Energy System for a School in North-West Indonesia

“…The initial capital costs, NPC values and payback periods for the optimized HRES configurations to meet the annual electrical load of the school of 114,654 kWh for the three scenarios, and the corresponding annual energy flows to the grid (purchase and sell), are shown in Table 3. It is noteworthy, the study mainly focused on renewable energy provision to meet the existing school energy demands, without considering further modification of the building design and passive cooling strategies, e.g., HVAC efficiency enhancement and/or cooling capacity enhancement through inclusion of innovative PV-thermal technologies, which are still undergoing R&D improvements and thereby lacking cost-competitiveness [21].…”

“…The minimum and the maximum monthly energy requirement for the teaching process in the school are 6669 kWh and 10,925 kWh respectively. It is assumed the majority of this basal load is attributed to typical HVAC space cooling energy demands over predominantly warmer months in modern buildings in Indonesia[21].…”

Photo‐thermal conversion and heat storage characteristics of multi‐walled carbon nanotubes dispersed magnetic phase change microcapsules slurry

“…Especially, solar energy is recognized as a potential candidate owing to its environment‐friendly nature 5‐7 . For this reason, many scholars have devoted extensive efforts to the development of solar energy utilization technologies 8‐10 . Among the technologies being explored, solar thermal utilization is the most efficient technique to take advantage of solar energy 11,12 .…”

Influence of Different Biofuels on the Efficiency of Gas Turbine Cycles for Prosumer and Distributed Energy Power Plants

“…At present, this group of energy sources includes: tides, sea currents, waves, temperature difference of ocean waters, wind power, solar energy, geothermal energy and energy from biomass. In the case of prosumers, the most popular are solar collectors, wind turbines and biogas plants.Currently, such popular solar collectors work only during the day [50]. Other solutions, in turn, apart from those using solar energy, have relatively low efficiency, hence their installation and operation is rather unprofitable [51].An interesting energy source is biogas [52,53].…”

“…Currently, such popular solar collectors work only during the day [50]. Other solutions, in turn, apart from those using solar energy, have relatively low efficiency, hence their installation and operation is rather unprofitable [51].…”