DUGi

Behavioural investigation of campus consumption against potential renewable generation for self-sustainability model

http://dugi.udg.edu/item/http:@@@@hdl.handle.net@@2072@@259252

At present the university hosts a small commercial PV installation located on a small sectionof the EPS rooftop area. In this system all production is fed directly back into the utility gridthrough a series of small DC-AC convertors. This PV array covers only a very small portionof the overall roof top surface area which the Montilivi campus has to offer. This report aimsto investigate the potential for the campus to become fully self-sufficient with regards to itsenergy consumption by expanding this existing system, and thus further utilising thewonderful solar resource which is available in the area. This report will use a Matlabsimulation validated using the current installation in order to investigate the potential energyproduction capabilities of the university with the solar array expanded over the full campus.State of the art technologies which have been developed since the current systemsconstruction will also be investigated and included in the simulation. Observing the results, itwill be possible to clearly understand the further benefits in terms of production which thesenew technologies could propose to such a system. Other topics which will be exploredinclude demand side management; observing how peaks in demand could be potentiallyaltered through user behaviour in order to ensure that maximum production and consumptionalign throughout the day. In addition to analysing the effects of increasing the universitiesproduction capacity, a series of case studies will be examined in order to observe howcampus consumption could be vastly reduced through both intelligent design and also energysaving incentives. The results from this report will provide vital data regarding both the dailyand monthly “Production Vs Consumption” relationships for this newly proposed system.This data will be essential for use in a parallel study which will assess the financial feasibilityof the expansion and also propose new ideas for how the energy produced should beconsumed. Based or current market prices for both small scale generators feeding in and alsoconsumers buying out from the grid, different utilisation methods will be discussed includingbattery storage, grid export and direct consumption in order to provide an insight into themost profitable option or combination of options for this specific investigation