Economic usage of Photovoltaic electricity in buildings

The aim of this project is to optimise the direct usage of PV-electricity produced in buildings. The main question concerning the right dimen­sioning of the PV generator should be answered in order to achieve a high direct usage rate of produced PV electricity under economic considerations. This analysis will be carried out for various building categories. As result, a calculation method will be developed (incl. report), in order to achieve the optimal, most economic PV system for various building categories and user typologies.

Short Description

Status

ongoing

Summary

End consumers, like households or enterprises, are not just consumers of electricity any more but also producers ("prosumer") of green electricity, for example in plus energy buildings. Economic considerations show that the direct usage of PV electricity is more economic than to deliver the electricity into the grid, taking into account present general conditions in Austria like low feed-in tariffs or expensive storage equipment.

The goal of the project is to optimise the direct usage rate of the electricity produced by PV systems. The main question concerning the optimal plant dimensioning should be answered, resulting in an optimal direct usage rate under economic viewpoints.

The contents of the project are based on five work packages:

  • Work package 1

    Evaluation of existing PV calculation and simulation programmes (like PV-Sol, PV-Simulation, etc.).

  • Work package 2

    Definition and analysis of different user types and profiles. This work package should define different user profiles based on existing building types (like multiple and single family houses) and different types of enterprises (SMEs, etc.). Besides the standard load profiles, more realistic profiles should be defined; they should represent the typical living conditions of representative households.

  • Work package 3

    Basic dimensioning of a state-of-the-art PV system (including module, shading, technology, building, direction, etc.) for different user types and profiles.

  • Work package 4

    The basic dimensioned systems are optimised considering the relevant economic aspects (from the point of view of the plant operator) concerning dimensioning, size, direct usage, etc.

  • Work package 5

    The achieved results are used to develop a calculation model (incl. report). This model describes all influencing factors and critical parameters for the economic dimensioning of a PV system for different building categories and different user types/ profiles.

Project Partners

Project management

Austrian Energy Agency

Project or cooperation partners

Contact Address

Austrian Energy Agency
Manuel Mitterndorfer, MSc.
Mariahilfer Straße 136
A-1150 Wien
Tel.: +43 (1) 586 1524-0 /-340
E-Mail: manuel.mitterndorfer@energyagency.at
Web: www.energyagency.at