Enhancing public building sustainability through integrated solar photovoltaic-based microgrid pilots: commissioning, operation, and performance insights

The real-world performance and optimization potential of solar photovoltaic-battery energy storage system microgrids is implemented in public buildings across Mediterranean environments. Using data collected over an extended period, several aspects are evaluated, including system commissioning outcomes, operational behavior under varying time and seasonal conditions, and the effectiveness of scenario-based strategies. The latter aim at improving key performance indicators, such as self-consumption and self-sufficiency rates, which are analyzed across daily, weekly, and seasonal timescales. Moreover, scenario simulations explore the impact of varying photovoltaic and storage capacities as well as different levels of demand-side flexibility. Results show that instead of simply increasing the component capacity, it is more effective to increase load flexibility, which leads to the enhancement of system performance and the reduction of battery cycling. Moreover, factors such as occupancy schedules and climatic conditions significantly affect system behavior and optimization outcomes. The study demonstrates that integrating high-resolution monitoring data with scenario modeling offers valuable insights into the dynamic operation of photovoltaic-battery energy storage system microgrids. Across the four pilot sites, measured annual self-sufficiency rates reach up to 70–95 % under baseline operation, while scenario-based demand-side flexibility increases SSR by 10–25 percentage points compared to capacity scaling alone. Results consistently show that moderate load flexibility yields higher performance gains and lower battery cycling than equivalent increases in PV or storage capacity.