Integration of photovoltaic panels and biomass-fuelled CHP in an Italian renewable energy community
Isabella Pizzuti, Alessandro Corsini, Giovanni Delibra, Erfan Tajalli-Ardekani
Abstract
• Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) and high-efficiency cogeneration incentives can be combined. • REC prosumers with high heat load can exploit a biomass CHP to lower energy bills and emissions. • Excess of electricity from a CHP working at constant heat load fits well within a REC. • A REC with CHP and PVs reduces emissions and shifts heat generation to carbon–neutral emissions from biomass. • REC members can save 250 €/year on electric bills, achieving a 21% of shared energy. This study presents the first attempt to explore the technical and financial feasibility of combining incentives for Italian Renewable Energy Communities (REC) with those for high-efficiency cogeneration. The community has local wooden biomass availability and was assembled around two prosumers: an industrial laundry with biomass-fuelled CHP and a school with photovoltaic panels. Other members include residential users. Electric loads were derived from available quarter-hour meters and electric bills. Thermal demand for the laundry was reconstructed from an energy audit. First, the CHP optimal mode of operation was selected among the two suggested by the manufacturer (matching the electric or the thermal load), providing energy, financial and environmental performance in both scenarios. Then the photovoltaic system of the school was sized. Finally, an optimal number of users was selected using a genetic algorithm, with financial performance of the REC as objective functions. Energy, economic and environmental impact performance of prosumers and REC are discussed, finding that the optimal configuration reduces CO 2 emissions by 722 tons/year, with further 1360 tons/year coming from biomass combustion. In an optimal REC configuration members cut 250 €/year of electric bills, with an overall performance of 21 % in valorization of shared energy, while a social-focused REC can increase its NPV from 233 to 769 k€. The scenario can be applied to other prosumers with similar thermal demand and can be replicated or adjusted to local requirements.