Energy self-sufficiency, grid demand variability and consumer costs: Integrating solar PV, Stirling engine CHP and battery storage

By P. Balcombe, Danny Rigby, Adisa Azapagic. 2015

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Abstract Global uptake of solar PV has risen significantly over the past four years, motivated by increased economic feasibility and the desire for electricity self-sufficiency. However, significant uptake of solar PV could cause grid balancing issues. A system comprising Stirling engine combined heat and power, solar PV and battery storage (SECHP–PV–battery) may further improve self-sufficiency, satisfying both heat and electricity demand as well as mitigating potential negative grid effects. This paper presents the results of a simulation of 30 households with different energy demand profiles using this system, in order to determine: the degree of household electricity self-sufficiency achieved; resultant grid demand profiles; and the consumer economic costs and benefits. The results indicate that, even though PV and SECHP collectively produced 30% more electricity than the average demand of 3300 kWh/yr, households still had to import 28% of their electricity demand from the grid with a 6 kWh battery. This work shows that SECHP is much more effective in increasing self-sufficiency than PV, with the households consuming on average 49% of electricity generated (not including battery contribution), compared to 28% for PV. The addition of a 6 kWh battery to PV and SECHP improves the grid demand profile by 28% in terms of grid demand ramp-up requirement and 40% for ramp-downs. However, the variability of the grid demand profile is still greater than for the conventional system comprising a standard gas boiler and electricity from the grid. These moderate improvements must be weighed against the consumer cost: with current incentives, the system is only financially beneficial for households with high electricity demand (>4300 kWh/yr). A capital grant of 24% of the installed cost of the whole micro-generation system is required to make the system financially viable for households with an average electricity demand (3300 kWh/yr).

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Energy Engineering and Power Technology, Pollution

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f0fd1960532bd5a20fd1c9a93046e1af2cc77191

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In Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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  2. Liana M. Cipcigan
  3. Nicholas Jenkins

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