IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v12y2019i5p776-d209165.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Eco-Sim: A Parametric Tool to Evaluate the Environmental and Economic Feasibility of Decentralized Energy Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Karni Siraganyan

    (Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland)

  • Amarasinghage Tharindu Dasun Perera

    (Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland)

  • Jean-Louis Scartezzini

    (Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland)

  • Dasaraden Mauree

    (Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland)

Abstract

Due to climate change and the need to decrease the carbon footprint of urban areas, there is an increasing pressure to integrate renewable energy and other components in urban energy systems. Most of the models or available tools do not provide both an economic and environmental assessment of the energy systems and thus lead to the design of systems that are sub-optimal. A flexible and modular simulation tool, Eco-Sim, is thus developed in the current study to conduct a comprehensive techno-economic and environmental assessment of a distributed energy system considering different configuration scenarios. Subsequently, an intermodel comparison is conducted with the Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) Pro as well as with a state-of-the-art industrial tool. Eco-Sim is then extended by including the heating demand, thermal conversion (by using heat pumps and solar thermal) methods and thermal storage. A parametric analysis is conducted by considering different capacities of solar photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal panels and energy storage technologies. The levelized cost of electricity, the autonomy level and the CO 2 emissions are used as the key performance indicators. Based on the analysis of a study case conducted in a neighbourhood in Geneva, Switzerland, the study reveals that, with the present market prices for batteries and seasonal changes in solar energy potential, the combination of solar PV with battery storage doesn’t bring a significant autonomy to the system and increases the CO 2 emissions of the system. However, the integration of thermal storage and solar thermal generation is shown to considerably increase the autonomy of the neighbourhood. Finally, multiple scenarios are also run in order to evaluate the sensitivity of economic parameters on the performance indicators of the system. Under the assumptions of the model, to foster investments in solar PV and battery installations, falling installation costs or stronger policies in favor of renewable energy seem necessary for the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Karni Siraganyan & Amarasinghage Tharindu Dasun Perera & Jean-Louis Scartezzini & Dasaraden Mauree, 2019. "Eco-Sim: A Parametric Tool to Evaluate the Environmental and Economic Feasibility of Decentralized Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-22, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:5:p:776-:d:209165
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/5/776/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/5/776/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peters, Michael & Schmidt, Tobias S. & Wiederkehr, David & Schneider, Malte, 2011. "Shedding light on solar technologies'A techno-economic assessment and its policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6422-6439, October.
    2. Villasmil, Willy & Fischer, Ludger J. & Worlitschek, Jörg, 2019. "A review and evaluation of thermal insulation materials and methods for thermal energy storage systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 71-84.
    3. Perera, A.T.D. & Nik, Vahid M. & Mauree, Dasaraden & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2017. "Electrical hubs: An effective way to integrate non-dispatchable renewable energy sources with minimum impact to the grid," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 232-248.
    4. Battke, Benedikt & Schmidt, Tobias S. & Grosspietsch, David & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2013. "A review and probabilistic model of lifecycle costs of stationary batteries in multiple applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 240-250.
    5. Liu, Zhijian & Liu, Yuanwei & He, Bao-Jie & Xu, Wei & Jin, Guangya & Zhang, Xutao, 2019. "Application and suitability analysis of the key technologies in nearly zero energy buildings in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 329-345.
    6. Zhang, Qiang & Wang, Zhiming & Du, Xiaoze & Yu, Gang & Wu, Hongwei, 2019. "Dynamic simulation of steam generation system in solar tower power plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 866-876.
    7. Connolly, D. & Lund, H. & Mathiesen, B.V. & Leahy, M., 2010. "A review of computer tools for analysing the integration of renewable energy into various energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(4), pages 1059-1082, April.
    8. Sherwani, A.F. & Usmani, J.A. & Varun, 2010. "Life cycle assessment of solar PV based electricity generation systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 540-544, January.
    9. Perera, A.T.D. & Attalage, R.A. & Perera, K.K.C.K. & Dassanayake, V.P.C., 2013. "Designing standalone hybrid energy systems minimizing initial investment, life cycle cost and pollutant emission," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 220-230.
    10. Dasaraden Mauree & Silvia Coccolo & Amarasinghage Tharindu Dasun Perera & Vahid Nik & Jean-Louis Scartezzini & Emanuele Naboni, 2018. "A New Framework to Evaluate Urban Design Using Urban Microclimatic Modeling in Future Climatic Conditions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-20, April.
    11. Abdul-Salam, Yakubu & Phimister, Euan, 2019. "Modelling the impact of market imperfections on farm household investment in stand-alone solar PV systems," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 66-76.
    12. Chong, W.T. & Naghavi, M.S. & Poh, S.C. & Mahlia, T.M.I. & Pan, K.C., 2011. "Techno-economic analysis of a wind–solar hybrid renewable energy system with rainwater collection feature for urban high-rise application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(11), pages 4067-4077.
    13. de la Calle, Alberto & Bayon, Alicia & Soo Too, Yen Chean, 2018. "Impact of ambient temperature on supercritical CO2 recompression Brayton cycle in arid locations: Finding the optimal design conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 1016-1027.
    14. Wright, Andrew & Firth, Steven, 2007. "The nature of domestic electricity-loads and effects of time averaging on statistics and on-site generation calculations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 84(4), pages 389-403, April.
    15. Manfren, Massimiliano & Caputo, Paola & Costa, Gaia, 2011. "Paradigm shift in urban energy systems through distributed generation: Methods and models," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 1032-1048, April.
    16. Hawkes, Adam & Leach, Matthew, 2005. "Impacts of temporal precision in optimisation modelling of micro-Combined Heat and Power," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 1759-1779.
    17. Malhotra, Abhishek & Battke, Benedikt & Beuse, Martin & Stephan, Annegret & Schmidt, Tobias, 2016. "Use cases for stationary battery technologies: A review of the literature and existing projects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 705-721.
    18. Chow, T.T., 2010. "A review on photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar technology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 365-379, February.
    19. Hadjipaschalis, Ioannis & Poullikkas, Andreas & Efthimiou, Venizelos, 2009. "Overview of current and future energy storage technologies for electric power applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(6-7), pages 1513-1522, August.
    20. Luthander, Rasmus & Widén, Joakim & Nilsson, Daniel & Palm, Jenny, 2015. "Photovoltaic self-consumption in buildings: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 80-94.
    21. Hall, Peter J. & Bain, Euan J., 2008. "Energy-storage technologies and electricity generation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4352-4355, December.
    22. Hoppmann, Joern & Volland, Jonas & Schmidt, Tobias S. & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2014. "The economic viability of battery storage for residential solar photovoltaic systems – A review and a simulation model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1101-1118.
    23. Singh, G.K., 2013. "Solar power generation by PV (photovoltaic) technology: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-13.
    24. Hoevenaars, Eric J. & Crawford, Curran A., 2012. "Implications of temporal resolution for modeling renewables-based power systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 285-293.
    25. Cao, Sunliang & Sirén, Kai, 2014. "Impact of simulation time-resolution on the matching of PV production and household electric demand," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 192-208.
    26. Hussein Ibrahim & Adrian Ilinca, 2013. "Techno-Economic Analysis of Different Energy Storage Technologies," Chapters, in: Ahmed F. Zobaa (ed.), Energy Storage - Technologies and Applications, IntechOpen.
    27. Gao, Yuan & Dong, Jianfei & Isabella, Olindo & Santbergen, Rudi & Tan, Hairen & Zeman, Miro & Zhang, Guoqi, 2019. "Modeling and analyses of energy performances of photovoltaic greenhouses with sun-tracking functionality," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 424-442.
    28. Lund, Peter D. & Lindgren, Juuso & Mikkola, Jani & Salpakari, Jyri, 2015. "Review of energy system flexibility measures to enable high levels of variable renewable electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 785-807.
    29. Herrando, María & Markides, Christos N., 2016. "Hybrid PV and solar-thermal systems for domestic heat and power provision in the UK: Techno-economic considerations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 512-532.
    30. Perera, A.T.D. & Nik, Vahid M. & Mauree, Dasaraden & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2017. "An integrated approach to design site specific distributed electrical hubs combining optimization, multi-criterion assessment and decision making," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 103-120.
    31. Perera, A.T.D. & Coccolo, Silvia & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis & Mauree, Dasaraden, 2018. "Quantifying the impact of urban climate by extending the boundaries of urban energy system modeling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 847-860.
    32. Perera, A.T.D. & Attalage, R.A. & Perera, K.K.C.K. & Dassanayake, V.P.C., 2013. "A hybrid tool to combine multi-objective optimization and multi-criterion decision making in designing standalone hybrid energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 412-425.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Zhengchao & Perera, A.T.D., 2020. "Integrated platform to design robust energy internet," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    2. Mauree, Dasaraden & Naboni, Emanuele & Coccolo, Silvia & Perera, A.T.D. & Nik, Vahid M. & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2019. "A review of assessment methods for the urban environment and its energy sustainability to guarantee climate adaptation of future cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 733-746.
    3. Alexis Tantet & Marc Stéfanon & Philippe Drobinski & Jordi Badosa & Silvia Concettini & Anna Cretì & Claudia D’Ambrosio & Dimitri Thomopulos & Peter Tankov, 2019. "e 4 clim 1.0: The Energy for a Climate Integrated Model: Description and Application to Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-37, November.
    4. Daniel Akinyele & Abraham Amole & Elijah Olabode & Ayobami Olusesi & Titus Ajewole, 2021. "Simulation and Analysis Approaches to Microgrid Systems Design: Emerging Trends and Sustainability Framework Application," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-26, October.
    5. Hélio Henrique Cunha Pinheiro & Neilton Fidélis da Silva & David Alves Castelo Branco & Márcio Giannini Pereira, 2020. "Photovoltaic Solar Systems in Multi-Headquarter Institutions: A Technical Implementation in Northeastern Brazil," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-28, May.
    6. Giovanni Andrés Quintana-Pedraza & Sara Cristina Vieira-Agudelo & Nicolás Muñoz-Galeano, 2019. "A Cradle-to-Grave Multi-Pronged Methodology to Obtain the Carbon Footprint of Electro-Intensive Power Electronic Products," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-16, August.
    7. Els van der Roest & Theo Fens & Martin Bloemendal & Stijn Beernink & Jan Peter van der Hoek & Ad J. M. van Wijk, 2021. "The Impact of System Integration on System Costs of a Neighborhood Energy and Water System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-33, May.
    8. Muñoz-Rodríguez, Francisco José & Jiménez-Castillo, Gabino & de la Casa Hernández, Jesús & Aguilar Peña, Juan Domingo, 2021. "A new tool to analysing photovoltaic self-consumption systems with batteries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 1327-1343.
    9. Birgit A. Henrich & Thomas Hoppe & Devin Diran & Zofia Lukszo, 2021. "The Use of Energy Models in Local Heating Transition Decision Making: Insights from Ten Municipalities in The Netherlands," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-23, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Perera, A.T.D. & Nik, Vahid M. & Wickramasinghe, P.U. & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2019. "Redefining energy system flexibility for distributed energy system design," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Azuatalam, Donald & Paridari, Kaveh & Ma, Yiju & Förstl, Markus & Chapman, Archie C. & Verbič, Gregor, 2019. "Energy management of small-scale PV-battery systems: A systematic review considering practical implementation, computational requirements, quality of input data and battery degradation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 555-570.
    3. Perera, A.T.D. & Kamalaruban, Parameswaran, 2021. "Applications of reinforcement learning in energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    4. Gallo, A.B. & Simões-Moreira, J.R. & Costa, H.K.M. & Santos, M.M. & Moutinho dos Santos, E., 2016. "Energy storage in the energy transition context: A technology review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 800-822.
    5. Sommerfeldt, Nelson & Madani, Hatef, 2017. "Revisiting the techno-economic analysis process for building-mounted, grid-connected solar photovoltaic systems: Part one – Review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1379-1393.
    6. Mauree, Dasaraden & Naboni, Emanuele & Coccolo, Silvia & Perera, A.T.D. & Nik, Vahid M. & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2019. "A review of assessment methods for the urban environment and its energy sustainability to guarantee climate adaptation of future cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 733-746.
    7. Perera, A.T.D. & Coccolo, Silvia & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis & Mauree, Dasaraden, 2018. "Quantifying the impact of urban climate by extending the boundaries of urban energy system modeling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 847-860.
    8. Wang, Zhengchao & Perera, A.T.D., 2020. "Integrated platform to design robust energy internet," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    9. Kools, L. & Phillipson, F., 2016. "Data granularity and the optimal planning of distributed generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 342-352.
    10. Perera, A.T.D. & Wickramasinghe, P.U. & Nik, Vahid M. & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2019. "Machine learning methods to assist energy system optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 243(C), pages 191-205.
    11. Menegon, Diego & Persson, Tomas & Haberl, Robert & Bales, Chris & Haller, Michel, 2020. "Direct characterisation of the annual performance of solar thermal and heat pump systems using a six-day whole system test," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 1337-1353.
    12. Perera, A.T.D. & Wickramasinghe, P.U. & Nik, Vahid M. & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2020. "Introducing reinforcement learning to the energy system design process," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    13. Papadopoulos, V. & Knockaert, J. & Develder, C. & Desmet, J., 2019. "Investigating the need for real time measurements in industrial wind power systems combined with battery storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 559-571.
    14. Perera, A.T.D. & Zhao, Bingyu & Wang, Zhe & Soga, Kenichi & Hong, Tianzhen, 2023. "Optimal design of microgrids to improve wildfire resilience for vulnerable communities at the wildland-urban interface," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    15. Petrollese, Mario & Cau, Giorgio & Cocco, Daniele, 2018. "Use of weather forecast for increasing the self-consumption rate of home solar systems: An Italian case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 746-758.
    16. Jaszczur, Marek & Hassan, Qusay & Abdulateef, Ammar M. & Abdulateef, Jasim, 2021. "Assessing the temporal load resolution effect on the photovoltaic energy flows and self-consumption," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1077-1090.
    17. Perera, A.T.D. & Javanroodi, Kavan & Nik, Vahid M., 2021. "Climate resilient interconnected infrastructure: Co-optimization of energy systems and urban morphology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    18. Petkov, Ivalin & Gabrielli, Paolo, 2020. "Power-to-hydrogen as seasonal energy storage: an uncertainty analysis for optimal design of low-carbon multi-energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    19. Luthander, Rasmus & Widén, Joakim & Nilsson, Daniel & Palm, Jenny, 2015. "Photovoltaic self-consumption in buildings: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 80-94.
    20. Solano, J.C. & Olivieri, L. & Caamaño-Martín, E., 2017. "Assessing the potential of PV hybrid systems to cover HVAC loads in a grid-connected residential building through intelligent control," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 249-266.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:5:p:776-:d:209165. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.