Energy Refurbishment of an Office Building with Hybrid Photovoltaic System and Demand-Side Management

On-site photovoltaic ( PV) and battery systems intend to improve buildings energy performance, however battery costs and monetary incentives are a major drawback for the introduction of these technologies into the electricity grids. This paper proposes an energy refurbishment of an office building based on multi-objective simulations. An innovative demand-side management approach is analyzed through the PV and battery control with the purpose of reducing grid power peaks and grid imported energy, as well as improving the project economy. Optimization results of load matching and grid interaction parameters, complemented with an economic analysis, are investigated in different scenarios. By means of battery use, the equivalent use of the grid connection is reduced by 12%, enhancing the grid interaction potential, and 10% of load matching rates can be increased. Project improvements indicate the grid connection capacity can be reduced by 13% and significant savings of up to 48% are achieved on yearly bills. The economy demonstrates the grid parity is only achieved for battery costs below 100 (sic)/kWh and the payback period is large: 28 years. In the case with only PV system, the grid parity achieves better outcomes and the payback time is reduced by a half, making this a more attractive option.