Ricerc@Sapienza

The new challenge in power systems design and operation is to organize and control smart micro grids supplying aggregation of users and special loads as electric vehicles charging stations. The presence of renewable and storage can help the optimal operation only if a good control manages all the elements of the grid. New models of green buildings and energy communities are proposed. For a real application they need an appropriate and advanced power system equipped with a building automation control system.

Residential and non-residential buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the EU. Considering that almost 75% of the building stock in EU is energy inefficient, the European energy policy promotes the improvement of the energy performance of existing buildings by introducing the innovative model of nearly zero energy building (nZEB). In the nZEB model, local energy sources (generation, storage and load management), building automation (BACS) and electronic monitoring of technical building systems (TBS) play a fundamental role.

Buildings with mixed residential and commercial units show relevant power peak that are further increased by shifting from gas-driven systems to electric source. The proposed solution is to organize a microgrid for such type of buildings, aggregating different users with a common electric distribution system with a single connection to the grid, a local common generation and a common heating/cooling system (electric-driven). This approach upgrades a group of independent small users with rigid loads and chaotic behavior, to a large user with a flexible and controlled profile.

The energy policy approach is carrying out a long-time renewal process of the electric and in general energy framework. The energy spent in commercial, residential, and institutional buildings is a great amount (in EU is estimated about 40% of total energy consumption and about 90% in high-density urban areas) [1]. The general encouragement of the rational use of energy, also for residential users, introduced the new approach of the nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEBs) by the European energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD) [3].