An Economic, Energy, and Environmental Analysis of PV/Micro-CHP Hybrid Systems: A Case Study of a Tertiary Building

José Manuel Salmerón Lissén, Laura Romero Rodríguez, Francisco Durán Parejo and Francisco José Sánchez de la Flor
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José Manuel Salmerón Lissén: Grupo de Termotecnia, Escuela Superior de Ingenieros, Universidad de Sevilla, Camino de los Descubrimientos S/N, 41092 Sevilla, Spain
Laura Romero Rodríguez: Grupo de Termotecnia, Escuela Superior de Ingenieros, Universidad de Sevilla, Camino de los Descubrimientos S/N, 41092 Sevilla, Spain
Francisco Durán Parejo: Grupo de Termotecnia, Escuela Superior de Ingenieros, Universidad de Sevilla, Camino de los Descubrimientos S/N, 41092 Sevilla, Spain
Francisco José Sánchez de la Flor: Escuela Superior de Ingeniería, Departamento de Máquinas y Motores Térmicos, Universidad de Cádiz, Avda, Universidad de Cádiz, nº 10, 11519 Cádiz, Spain

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: Our present standard of living depends strongly on energy sources, with buildings being a primary focus when it comes to reducing energy consumption due to their large contribution, especially in tertiary buildings. The goal of the present study is to evaluate the performance of two different designs of hybrid systems, composed of natural gas engines and photovoltaic panels. This will be done through simulations in TRNSYS, considering a representative office building with various schedules of operation (8, 12, and 24 h), as well as different climates in Spain. The main contributions of this paper are the evaluations of primary energy-consumption, emissions, and economic analyses for each scenario. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is carried out to observe the influence of energy prices, as well as that of the costs of the micro-CHP engines and PV modules. The results show that the scenario with the conventional system and PV modules is the most profitable one currently. However, if electricity prices are increased in the future or natural gas prices are reduced, the scenario with micro-CHP engines and PV modules will become the most profitable option. Energy service engineers, regulators, and manufacturers are the most interested in these results.

Keywords: distributed generation; hybrid systems; PV; micro-CHP; microcogeneration; TRNSYS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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