Imperial College London
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Dr Paul Balcombe

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering

Honorary Lecturer
 
 
 
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Contact

 

p.balcombe

 
 
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Location

 

10-12 Prince's GardensSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Balcombe:2015:10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.06.017,
author = {Balcombe, P and Rigby, D and Azapagic, A},
doi = {10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.06.017},
journal = {Applied Energy},
pages = {393--408},
title = {Energy self-sufficiency, grid demand variability and consumer costs: Integrating solar PV, Stirling engine CHP and battery storage},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.06.017},
volume = {155},
year = {2015}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Global uptake of solar PV has risen significantly over the past four years, motivated by increased economic feasibility and the desire for electricity self-sufficiency. However, significant uptake of solar PV could cause grid balancing issues. A system comprising Stirling engine combined heat and power, solar PV and battery storage (SECHP-PV-battery) may further improve self-sufficiency, satisfying both heat and electricity demand as well as mitigating potential negative grid effects. This paper presents the results of a simulation of 30 households with different energy demand profiles using this system, in order to determine: the degree of household electricity self-sufficiency achieved; resultant grid demand profiles; and the consumer economic costs and benefits. The results indicate that, even though PV and SECHP collectively produced 30% more electricity than the average demand of 3300. kWh/yr, households still had to import 28% of their electricity demand from the grid with a 6. kWh battery. This work shows that SECHP is much more effective in increasing self-sufficiency than PV, with the households consuming on average 49% of electricity generated (not including battery contribution), compared to 28% for PV. The addition of a 6. kWh battery to PV and SECHP improves the grid demand profile by 28% in terms of grid demand ramp-up requirement and 40% for ramp-downs. However, the variability of the grid demand profile is still greater than for the conventional system comprising a standard gas boiler and electricity from the grid. These moderate improvements must be weighed against the consumer cost: with current incentives, the system is only financially beneficial for households with high electricity demand (<4300. kWh/yr). A capital grant of 24% of the installed cost of the whole micro-generation system is required to make the system financially viable for households with an average electricity demand (3300. kWh/yr).
AU  - Balcombe,P
AU  - Rigby,D
AU  - Azapagic,A
DO  - 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.06.017
EP  - 408
PY  - 2015///
SN  - 0306-2619
SP  - 393
TI  - Energy self-sufficiency, grid demand variability and consumer costs: Integrating solar PV, Stirling engine CHP and battery storage
T2  - Applied Energy
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.06.017
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/43317
VL  - 155
ER  -
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