An innovative urban energy system constituted by a photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar installation: Design, simulation and monitoring

The case study presented in this paper is an innovative urban roof-mounted energy system constituted by a hybrid solar system for domestic use. Utilizing this untapped energy is the key value for home renewable energy supply. It allows the improvement of the energy yield per area unit of roof or facade. The Photovoltaic/Thermal (PVT) panel considered presents the particularity of the addition of a transparent insulating cover to reduce the heat losses on its front side. It has been developed by the manufacturer Endef Engineering in collaboration with the University of Zaragoza. In this paper, the design of a PVT system to feed the domestic heat water requirements of multi housing building is explained. The electricity production is also considered, in accordance with the Spanish regulation for self-consumption. The work developed began with the redesign of the hybrid solar plant, which individually supplies hot water to each dwelling and power for common consumption of the building, including a charging system for electric vehicles. Then, the PVT panel developed and manufactured by Endef Engineering and the complete thermal and electrical system are simulated in Trnsys. The monitoring of a real working installation is used in this paper to validate the proposed model. The presented case study is located in Zaragoza (Spain), in a residential apartment block, with an electrical installed power of 4.14 kWp and 20.5 kW of thermal capacity. The proposed model allows the calculation of the heat and electricity production and efficiency of the whole system with error lower than 6.5%. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.