engleski

Co-generation and Micro-grids' Management: An option for sustainable urban buildings in the Mediterranean?

Co-generation has become quite cost-effective over the last years. At the same time, micro- grids enable its integration into urban energy systems in a much more flexible way than only a few years ago. It is therefore reasonable that it has become a popular solution in Northern and Central Europe. Still, it is a different issue to use this technology in the Mediterranean region, where the heating period and heating requirements are smaller. This problem is discussed in this paper, based on the example of residential buildings in Greece. The solutions needed have been considered, to provide not only heat and electricity but also the cooling for an apartment building, hence a tri-generation solution. A mathematical framework was developed to enable the determination of an optimal solution for such a system. Two main case studies have been solved scoping in approaching the energy production for the micro-grid system based either on a Micro- Combined Heat and Power system (Micro- CHP) or on a conventional gas-fired system. Moreover, the fuel of the conventional burners has been differed from natural gas to diesel oil. The results produced have been evaluated comparatively, in order to come up with the most efficient and cost-effective solution. As a result, the Pay-Back Period for a micro-grid co-generation system under varying conditions was elaborated, and the results also indicated the potential for future research and improvement, which will make such systems more appealing.

Micro-Grids ; Micro-CHP ; Energy efficiency ; Residential buildings ; Mediterranean

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