1 research outputs found
A GIS Open-Data Co-Simulation Platform for Photovoltaic Integration in Residential Urban Areas
The rising awareness of environmental issues and the increase of renewable energy sources (RES) has led to a shift in energy production
toward RES, such as photovoltaic (PV) systems, and toward a distributed generation (DG) model of energy production that requires systems in which
energy is generated, stored, and consumed locally. In this work, we present a methodology that integrates geographic information system (GIS)-based
PV potential assessment procedures with models for the estimation of both energy generation and consumption profiles. In particular, we have created
an innovative infrastructure that co-simulates PV integration on building rooftops together with an analysis of households’ electricity demand. Our
model relies on high spatiotemporal resolution and considers both shadowing effects and real-sky conditions for solar radiation estimation. It integrates
methodologies to estimate energy demand with a high temporal resolution, accounting for realistic populations with realistic consumption profiles.
Such a solution enables concrete recommendations to be drawn in order to promote an understanding of urban energy systems and the integration of
RES in the context of future smart cities. The proposed methodology is tested and validated within the municipality of Turin, Italy. For the whole
municipality, we estimate both the electricity absorbed from the residential sector (simulating a realistic population) and the electrical energy that
could be produced by installing PV systems on buildings’ rooftops (considering two different scenarios, with the former using only the rooftops of
residential buildings and the latter using all available rooftops). The capabilities of the platform are explored through an in-depth analysis of the
obtained results. Generated power and energy profiles are presented, emphasizing the flexibility of the resolution of the spatial and temporal results.
Additional energy indicators are presented for the self-consumption of produced energy and the avoidance of CO2 emission