Thermoeconomic cost allocation in simple trigeneration systems including thermal energy storage

Abstract

The present paper tackles the issue of allocating economic costs in trigeneration systems including thermal energy storage (TES) for buildings of the residential-commercial sector. As energy systems become more and more complex (multiple resources, products and technologies; joint production; TES) the issue of the appropriate way to allocate the cost of the resources consumed arises. This is important because the way in which allocation is made directly affects the prices of the products obtained and, thus, the consumers' behaviour. Thermoeconomics has been used to explain the cost formation process in complex energy systems. In this paper, two issues in thermoeconomics that have not been deeply studied are addressed: (i) the joint production of energy services in dynamic energy systems; and (ii) the incorporation of TES. A thermoeconomic analysis of a simple trigeneration system including TES was performed and the hourly unit costs of the internal flows and final products were obtained for a day of the year. The cost allocation proposal considered that the cogenerated products must share the benefits of the joint production. Regarding the TES, the interconnection between charging and discharging periods was explored, allowing the discharged energy flow to be traced back to its production period.

A multiperiod multiobjective framework for the synthesis of trigeneration systems in tertiary sector buildings

“…The CI values presented in Table 3 were estimated from manufacturers' catalogues and from the literature, as described by Pina. 15 year −1 , composed of the maintenance and operation costs factor (0.0325 year −1 ) and the capital recovery factor (0.1175 year −1 ), obtained for an interest rate of 0.10 year −1 and an operational lifetime nyr = 20 years. The total investment cost of the plant is (a) increased by a factor of 20% ( f IC = 0.20), which takes into account indirect costs of the plant, such as engineering and supervision expenses, legal expenses, contractor's fees, and contingencies and (b) multiplied by the amortization and maintenance factor f am = 0.…”

“…10,11 Further, thermal energy storage (TES) units are commonly integrated in polygeneration systems to address the nonsimultaneity of energy supply and demand characteristic of cogeneration and intermittent generation, such as solar-based RETs. 14 By contrast, energy systems in residential-commercial buildings have key differences regarding 15 : (a) consumer behavior: devices must often operate at partial load or even be turned-off for some periods due to the variability of energy demands; (b) economic market: the economic market in which the energy system is inserted often dictates the energy prices, which vary over time and may change in the future; and (c) ownership: there are often multiple stakeholders, which must agree on how to jointly operate the system. Industrial applications generally operate at full load are isolated from the economic market, sometimes with availability of noncommercial residual fuels, and are owned by individual parties.…”

“…Industrial applications generally operate at full load are isolated from the economic market, sometimes with availability of noncommercial residual fuels, and are owned by individual parties. 14 By contrast, energy systems in residential-commercial buildings have key differences regarding 15 : (a) consumer behavior: devices must often operate at partial load or even be turned-off for some periods due to the variability of energy demands; (b) economic market: the economic market in which the energy system is inserted often dictates the energy prices, which vary over time and may change in the future; and (c) ownership: there are often multiple stakeholders, which must agree on how to jointly operate the system. This calls for an improvement of existing optimization approaches and the development of new ones that take into account the increasingly elaborate problem of the synthesis of polygeneration systems supported with RETs and TES for buildings applications.…”

Allocation of economic costs in trigeneration systems at variable load conditions including renewable energy sources and thermal energy storage

“…Such a high level of integration hinders the determination of a logical distribution of the resources consumed towards the cogenerated products. As described by Lozano et al [27,28] and Pina et al [39], the fundamental device of a cogeneration system is the cogeneration module GE, in which the joint production of electricity (and/or mechanical energy) and heat takes place. By incorporating a TAT, such as an absorption chiller ABSc, the cogenerated heat can be extended to cooling production.…”

Steering sustainability transitions? Modular participatory backcasting for strategic planning in the heating and cooling sector

“…Persson et al, 2014). Relevant solutions include DH systems, combined heat and power (CHP) co-generation plants and smart buildings, but also rather novel trigeneration systems that combine heating, cooling and electricity generation (Leonzio, 2018;Pina et al, 2018) and allowing for heating and cooling transfer over the same grid (Nakao et al, 2018). Advanced system integration solutions can be developed based upon the principles of industrial ecology (e.g.…”