Ideas for Tomorrow

By Juan Van Roy, Bart Verbruggen, and Johan Driesen

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2013.2268815 Date of publication: 16 August 2013

THE ENERGY SYSTEMS IN OUR BUILDINGS AND BUILDing districts form a tight network of several energy sources, such as renewables and fossil fuels, and energy flows, such as electricity and heat. Over the years, the integration and interaction of these sources and flows have become more and more interwoven. To evaluate the results of certain types of energy system integration (ESI) in buildings or districts, the Electrical Energy, Building Physics, and Applied Mechanics and Energy Conversion divisions of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) have jointly developed Integrated District Energy Assessment by Simulation (IDEAS), a Modelica library for the integrated modeling and simulation of buildings and districts. IDEAS can describe the built environment, energy consumption and supply, and networks and control in just one model, giving rise to a more effective analysis and better control of the energy system under consideration. In this article, we focus on the advantages of ESI for electrical modeling and assessments. With IDEAS, we can assess the
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New Tools for Integrated Building and District Modeling

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Concepts for Energy Storage

Coupled Local Energy Networks

Traditionally, the assessment of building topologies, thermal building systems, and electrical systems is performed separately, using discrete tools. We feel, however, that a multidisciplinary energy assessment of individual buildings and the interactions among buildings in districts can lead to better integration and interactions among generation, distribution, control, and storage of the different energy vectors in buildings and districts (see Figure 1).

E-Market Energy Consumption Patterns

IDEAS: A Tool for Integrated Building and District Simulations

With the IDEAS library, we can incorporate the dynamics of the hydronic, thermal, and electrical processes and networks in buildings and districts into a single model and solver. We impleIntegration Tools and Integrate Buildings mented IDEAS in the Modelica modControl Strategies and Transport eling language, which is open-source, Flexibility of Energy Consumers object-oriented, and equation-based (it uses differential and algebraic equafigure 1. ESI in buildings and districts (source: KU Leuven/ElectaNB). tions). It is well suited for physical modeling and offers an easier integration of different domains in a single model. integration, interaction, control, and feedback of multidisciplinary energy systems, buildings, and district systems. IDEAS is able to simulate the electrical grid to which build- IDEAS and Electrical Assessments: ings, loads, and distributed generation units are connected. Possibilities for ESI and Scalability We can therefore take the limitations of the electrical grid The IDEAS library consists of five sublibraries, for climate, into account, which makes it possible to assess the impact building, occupant, thermal, and electrical modeling (see of all the energy systems on these grids and investigate the Figure 2). All these components can be easily interconpossible interactions among the systems. nected for model integration (see Figure 3).

IDEAS Climate Heat Gains and Losses Solar Shading PV Power Production Building and Occupant Dynamic Multizone Model Thermal (Heating and Cooling) Comfort Demand Occupant Behavior Use of Electric Appliances and Lighting Thermal (HVAC) System Thermal Energy Generation Heating/Ventilation Domestic Hot Water Thermal Storage Electrical System Distributed Generation Battery Storage (Distributed and Centrally) Electric Vehicles In-Home Grid Distribution Grid Integrated Control Thermal Comfort Peak Shaving Voltage Regulation Self-Consumption Local Generation

Electricity Demand

figure 2. The five IDEAS sublibraries.

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Grid

BIPV

Building

dc

Heat Supply

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figure 3. A schematic overview of the IDEAS tool (source: Baetens et al.).

The electrical component library of IDEAS consists of models to simulate photovoltaic (PV) systems; battery storage systems, including electric vehicles; and electrical grids. The grid-modeling capability includes low-voltage distribution grids and electrical networks in buildings. The PV system model simulates the power output of one PV panel. The model uses parameters taken from existing panels on the market (it uses the five-parameter model, with a temperature-dependent equivalent diode circuit). It uses meteo data (irradiance, temperature, and so on) from Meteonorm to calculate electricity production. In the model, we can place several PV panels in series and/or in parallel, and we can define tilt angles, orientations, and so on. These capabilities allow great flexibility in the use of the model. We can also simulate the inverter of the PV system so as to incorporate inverter losses, as well as inverter control strategies that curtail electricity production in case of overvoltage and voltage droop mechanisms that regulate power output. The battery storage model in IDEAS calculates the state of charge of the battery using the electricity flows toward the battery or from the battery to the building or electricity grid. We can use this model to simulate decentralized or centralized storage units. Further, since most electric vehicles (EVs) use batteries as storage units, we have also implemented an EV model in IDEAS that can model EV battery storage and driving and charging behavior. Electrical distribution grids connect many different buildings and energy systems (loads and generation units) within districts. Electrical networks in buildings connect
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the different electrical loads in the building itself. Control strategies for energy systems can include grid parameters, such as voltages and power exchanges, to shift the operation of these systems in time. These strategies can ensure, for instance, that technical grid constraints such as over- and undervoltages and grid capacity are not violated. As in-building grids, both single-phase and three-phase low-voltage distribution grids are radial grids with a single point of common coupling to another grid (see Figure 4). Both the single- and three-phase distribution grids therefore use the same models to build up the grid topology. Describing grid topologies using only the incidence (or connection) matrix and the impedance matrix makes for a very flexible and scalable approach to the modeling of electrical grids. In this way, clusters of buildings in districts, combinations of districts, and so on can easily be modeled. The object-oriented approach in Modelica also offers a flexible use of the different models. For instance, we can first simulate the models in their respective domains before interconnecting them. This is useful for the development, testing, and validation of models. Depending on the scale of the simulation case (only one building or a combination of districts with multiple buildings), it is possible to use models with a lower degree of complexity.

Example: Electrical Bottlenecks at the Feeder Level for a District with Zero-Energy Buildings
The following example from our research demonstrates the use of the IDEAS tool to assess electrical bottlenecks at the
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design level for individual buildings and for the three different feeder designs. The cover factors describe the simultaneity between the demand and supply of electricity. In Figure 5, a design level of one (on the x-axis) denotes a PV sizing that exactly covers yearly electricity consumption. At the building level, self-consumption is only about 26% with a PV zero-energy building design level of one, as depicted in Figure 5(a). This (a) (b) is due to seasonal patterns and high nonsimultaneity between production figure 4. Topology comparison between (a) a distribution grid and (b) an inand consumption. This low self-conbuilding grid. sumption shows that a large part of the electricity produced is injected into the electricity grid, which in turn affects the grid (in terms of feeder level for a district with zero-energy buildings (ZEBs) voltage deviations, peak loads, and so on). using building-integrated PV systems and heat pumps. Since there is a diversification of consumption, the aggreThe case consists of a residential district with 33 ZEBs using the radial IEEE 34-node test feeder, for which the gated consumption profile is more flattened out. When we parameters are downscaled to represent a typical low-volt- look at the district level, overall self-consumption and selfage feeder (230/400 V). The three different test scenarios generation increase, since a part of the electricity production use different cable cross sections to represent a strong, a in one building can be used in another building. Figure 5(a) moderate, and a weak feeder design. We assumed fully bal- shows this for an ideal feeder. This ideal feeder does not anced loading, and we have taken the power losses and volt- take into account the grid impact of the PV systems and heat pumps. age drop in the feeding transformer into account. The plots in Figure 5(b), (c), and (d) show the impact of All buildings are detached and are based on four architectural types that are representative of the Belgian grid limits on self-consumption and self-generation. Voltbuilding stock. Each has a heat pump for heating and domes- age deviations can curtail the PV systems if overvoltage tic hot water and an optimally oriented PV system (facing occurs. The curtailment happens more for weaker grids. south and at a 34c inclination) able to satisfy the buildings And because of such curtailment, yearly energy production is lower. In such cases, we can therefore observe a higher annual electricity consumption with its annual production. Figure 5 shows the annual cover factor, both self-consump- self-consumption and lower self-generation. The amount tion and self-generation, as a function of the net-zero-energy of curtailment of PV systems depends on the location of

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figure 5. Annual cover factors as a function of the design level of net zero energy at the building (gray) and aggregated (black) levels, including feeder limits: (a) ideal feeder, (b) strong feeder, (c) moderate feeder, and (d) weak feeder (source: Baetens et al.).
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the building in the grid. This explains the spread between self-consumption and self-generation at the individualbuilding level. Despite a design level able to create ZEBs in theory, the buildings will not all reach this level in reality due to grid limits (see Figure 6). Equivalence between generation and consumption on the district level may possibly still be achieved by enlarging the PV systems, but this could lead to greater impacts on the grid and higher generation losses. One way to solve these problems is to increase grid strength. This may not always be possible, or it may not be the best possible solution. Integrated simulations can find the best method for integrating demand-side management, electrical and thermal storage, grid planning, and other parameters. They can also optimize single systems, such as building design, and investigate the impact of such optimizations on other energy systems.

Building Climate Impacts and Targets

Worldwide, residential, and commercial building stock accounts for approximately 32% of total energy use and produces about 30% of the total global end-use CO2 emissions. The 20-20-20 climate and energy targets are part of binding legislation in the European Union to reduce EU greenhouse-gas emissions by 20%, increase the use of renewable resources to 20% of total consumption, and improve EU energy efficiency by 20% by 2020. The European Commission released its energy goals and benchmarks for buildings in its European Directive 2010/31/EU. The directive states that by 2020 all new buildings or buildings with large renovations must be nearly ZEBs (nZEBs).

ZEBs and ESI

The different climate and energy targets that have been adopted in Europe and globally (see Building Climate Impacts and Targets) are leading to increased integration of renewable and distributed energy sources in buildings, such as PV systems, wind power, and combined heat and power (CHP). On the other hand, new technologies, such as EVs and heat pumps, are increasing the energy efficiency of the whole energy system. or storage is lower than the local production, the generation unit injects the surplus of electricity into the grid. On the other hand, new technologies are often responsible for higher electricity consumption in buildings. Both the injection of electricity into the grid (via PV systems and CHPs, for example) and higher consumption of electricity have grid impacts. Residential and commercial buildings are mainly connected to low-voltage grids. The injection and consumption of electricity can therefore lead to peak loads, higher resistive losses, voltage deviations, phase unbalance, and other issues in the distribution grid. The literature defines various grid impact and load-matching indicators, as shown in Table 1. In building simulations, the resulting voltage deviations and possible overload situations in grids are often not seen as a problem, since the simulations usually see

Grid Impact of Renewables and Energy-Efficient Technologies

Renewable and distributed energy sources in buildings often have an intermittent electricity production profile. For residential buildings, the local production of electricity is typically very much noncoincident with the local consumption of electricity. In case the local consumption

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figure 6. Effective level of net zero energy as a function of the design level of net zero energy at the building (gray) and aggregated (black) levels: (a) ideal feeder, (b) strong feeder, (c) moderate feeder, and (d) weak feeder (source: Baetens et al.).
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table 1. Overview and definition of various grid impact indicators (source: Verbruggen et al.). Indicator Capacity factor Loss-of-load probability Cover factor 1% peak power Peaks above limit Dimensioning rate kVA credit Definition Ratio of total energy exchange and the energy exchange in case the connection capacity is fully used Percentage of time that the load exceeds generation Simultaneity between demand and supply of electricity Mean power of the 1% highest peaks Percentage of time that power is higher than a certain value Ratio of the peak power and the connection capacity Reduction potential of the grid connection

the grid as an idealized network with no limitations. But the integration of the grid should be investigated, since grid limits may have an important impact on building optimizations.

Rising Electrification in Buildings

Regarding the evolution toward smart buildings in smart grids, the integration of renewable and distributed energy sources and energy-efficient technologies in buildings causes increasing electrification in buildings. On the one hand, this increases the importance of building electrical energy flows. On the other, the interaction between electrical and thermal energy flows grows. Heat pumps are a good example. These loads consume electricity to generate heat. Heat pumps thus have an impact on the electricity grid. To control the operation of the heat pump, however, different inputs can be used, such as instantaneous PV power output to maximize selfconsumption or grid parameters (voltage, frequency, and

so on) to minimize grid impacts, and others. These control steps, in turn, have an impact on the operational requirements of the heat pump for future time periods, the state of the storage unit, heat losses, and so on. Given this, the different domains in buildings (electrical, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, lighting, control, and so on) tend to become more and more integrated and the interaction between the energy systems and energy flows increases. This requires new approaches to the analysis of these integrated systems. Integrated energy system analyses, such as IDEAS, have the benefit of taking the inputs of other systems into account and seem to be an excellent solution.

Operational Flexibilities to Limit Grid Impact

Some energy systems offer a certain flexibility to shift their consumption or production in time (see Figure 7). For instance, EVs can shift their battery charging in time as long as the charging delay does not interfere with driving requirements. Other systems, such as heat pumps and CHPs, can shift heat generation in time by making use of thermal storage. These systems can therefore use this flexibility to meet objectives such as minimizing the grid impact or maximizing the self-consumption of local generation. The latter objective meets the challenge of the intermittent character of renewables and their possible high noncoincidence with local demand (see Figure 8). This leads to two corollaries. First, coordination strategies can use this flexibility to meet such objectives. These strategies plan the operation of the different energy systems. Second, we can use instantaneous grid parameters to shift the operation of different energy systems in time to take technical grid constraints into account. For instance, if voltages increase beyond the allowed limits, control strategies can reduce or postpone the consumption of appliances through the use of methods such as a grid-stabilizing voltage droop system. All this indicates the importance of taking into account the interaction of multiple domains in building and district simulations to obtain better system design, demand-side management (DSM), and storage solutions. By making
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Upper Bound
Energy

Possible Path Lower Bound

Time

figure 7. A flexibility curve represents the possible operation paths of an appliance. The upper and lower bound curves show, respectively, the operation curve without any and with maximum delay of operation.
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use of ESI, we can utilize the unique benefits each system offers while maintaining comfort and robustness levels and improving system efficiency levels.

PV Power Household ousehold Load

Shortcomings of Traditional Tools

The complexity of ESI in buildings continues to grow. Traditional simulation tools are therefore of only limited use for integrated modeling. Different tools are available to simulate the various domains. We can distinguish between the domain simulation scale (building, system, district, national, and so on) and the time scale, for example. Two approaches are available for traditional building and district simulation tools. In the first approach, models use thermal building physics and systems as a starting point. The simulations use a combination of dynamic simulations of the heating and cooling demand and stochastic occupant behavior. These simulations, however, do not perform detailed studies of the electric networks, and they aggregate the loads on a large time resolution. They thus neglect grid limitations and other factors that affect the operation of the various energy systems. On the other hand, electrical energy systems serve as the starting point for the second approach. These models perform physical calculations of electrical generation and distribution and stochastic calculations of power loads. Some tools, such as HOMER or DER-CAM, do not take into account the electrical distribution grid, while grid simulation tools like OpenDSS and GridLab-D include only simplified building and heating models or take load curves as input without offering any grid feedback possibilities. The increased integration of energy systems in buildings and districts requires a new approach in analyzing these systems. Thankfully, more and more tools are being developed that meet the aforementioned requirements. The IDEAS tool is one of these new modeling and simulation tools.

(a)

(b)

figure 8. (a) Noncoincidence of local demand and production in residential buildings and (b) DSM: peak load reduction.

Acknowledgment
The work of J. Van Roy is funded through a VITO doctoral scholarship.

For Further Reading

R. Baetens, R. De Coninck, J. Van Roy, B. Verbruggen, J. Driesen, L. Helsen, and D. Saelens, Assessing electrical bottlenecks at feeder lever for residential net zero-energy buildings by integrated system simulation, Appl. Energy, vol. 96, pp. 7483, Aug. 2012. P. Fritzson, Principles of Object-Oriented Modeling and Simulation with Modelica 2.1. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2004. J. Salom, J. Widn, J. Candanedo, I. Sartori, K. Voss, and A. Marszal, Understanding net zero energy buildings: Evaluation of load matching and grid interaction indicators,

in Proc. Building Simulations, Sydney, Australia, Sept. 2011, pp. 25142521. J. Tant, F. Geth, D. Six, and J. Driesen, Multi-objective battery storage to improve PV integration in residential distribution grids, IEEE Trans. Sustain. Energy, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 182191, Jan. 2013. B. Verbruggen, R. De Coninck, R. Baetens, D. Saelens, L. Helsen, and J. Driesen, Grid impact indicators for active building simulation, in Proc. IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT), Anaheim, CA, Jan. 2011, pp. 16. M. Wetter, A view on future building system modeling and simulation, in Building Performance Simulation for Design and Operation. London, U.K.: Routledge, 2011, ch. 17, pp. 481504. M. Wetter, Modelica-based modeling and simulation to support research and development in building energy and control systems, J. Build. Perform. Simulat., vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 143161, May 2009.

Biographies
Juan Van Roy is with KU Leuven, Belgium. Bart Verbruggen is with KU Leuven, Belgium. Johan Driesen is with KU Leuven, Belgium.
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