SECOND PV-ESTIA NEWSLETTER
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The Balkan-Mediterranean region is facing the challenge of sustaining and increasing the growth of photovoltaic systems that is endangered by several barriers and their unpredictable nature. This is especially important in the built environment, as member states are developing plans to increase the number of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs), which most probably employ PVs, to reach the 2030 climate change targets. As the number of NZEBs increases, PV integration in the distribution grids of the Balkan-Med region will not remain as straightforward as today, unless buildings become more grid-friendly and policies and regulations are suitably adapted. In the above context, the overall objective of the PV-ESTIA project is to enhance the penetration of PVs and energy storage systems in the built environment, facilitating in this way the transition towards NZEBs. This will be achieved by using storage, which will transform the buildings into a more predictable power source. With the high solar potential of the Balkan Med region and the decreasing cost of PV/storage systems, such solutions are becoming cost-efficient. The project aims to change the way buildings with PVs are treated and conceptualize them as systems, that are efficiently interacting with the grids. In addition, it aims to alleviate the above barriers and pave the way for unobstructive NZEB development.
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Enhancing Storage Integration in Buildings
with Photovoltaics - PV-ESTIA
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The primary goal of PV-ESTIA project is to:
- Enhance the integration of Photovoltaics and Energy Storage Systems in the building environment in 5 pilot areas, facilitating the transition towards Nearly Zero Energy Buildings;
- Identify and tackle barriers in PV deployment;
- Provide a new energy management solution for residential and commercial buildings, taking into consideration potential interactions with the electrical grid;
- Transform buildings into a controllable energy source;
- Design and implement proper policies and regulations.
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The main PV-ESTIA outputs are:
- An innovative management scheme of PV+storage hybrid, making buildings grid-friendlier;
- A generalized model assessing alternative policies related to implementation of such hybrids;
- An online tool providing profitability estimation of such systems;
- An advanced tool evaluating multiple policy scenarios;
- A set of joint regulation recommendations in the form of a roadmap for the Balkan-Med region and joint policy recommendations targeting grid operators and relevant stakeholders.
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Recent project activities focused on identifying the main policy and other barriers and the opportunities related to PV integration in buildings and NZEBs in the Balkan-Med region, by analysing the current policies in each participating country. Towards this objective, a comparative analysis has been performed, while stakeholders’ workshops and targeted meetings in each country have been organized, providing valuable inputs and a further insight in the existing regulatory framework.
Some of the main conclusions are:
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- The improvement of energy performance of buildings, through the promotion of NZEBs, is deemed necessary to achieve the RES targets.
- The main conclusion of the report is that the current policy framework has made relatively little progress towards providing effective solutions to the barriers of related to storage integration in NZEBs as little attention has been drawn on how to solve them.
- There is an urgent need for a new policy framework to allow the effective deployment of coupled PV-ESS technology in the Balkan-Med region.
- There is a strong need to adopt a NZEB definition in Greece and FYROM.
- Training of professionals is identified as essential to meet challenging energy efficiency - development of a comprehensive and long-term strategy is recommended, rather than a set of specific isolated pilot projects to build competencies and being ready for the challenges posed especially by NZEBs` requirements.
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The full report is available by clicking on the link below:
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The project is funded by the transnational Cooperation Programme Interreg V-B "Balkan-Mediterranean 2014-2020" and co-funded by the national funds.
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STATE OF THE ART OF PILOT ACTIVITIES IN EACH COUNTRY:
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PLOVDIV AREA, BULGARIA:
PV ESTIA will install a total of 48 kWh storage capacity within 5 newly established prosumers by implementation of 5x9,6kWh LiFePO4 battery storage systems and 5x5kW hybrid inverters, transforming participting households and buildings to nearly-zero energy households/buildings.
The implemented scheme targets to maximize the self-consumption of each prosumer. Using the LiFePO4 energy storage systems, the prosumers will be able to accumulate energy in hours of high production and low own-consumption, and then, when no production is available, the stored energy can be consumed for own needs. In this way, each prosumer is able to increase its electricity self-consumption and to achieve partial energy independence. At the same time, this type of systems would be able to discharge the excess energy generated and stored towards the grid, when such business models became possible.
Each pilot system will also be equipped with AC/DC energy analysers and data loggers, grouped into a monitoring systems, providing real-time data from various system points - energy production, energy storage and grid consumption.
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NICOSIA, CYPRUS:
The University of Cyprus (UCY) is responsible for the implementation of two different pilot systems in Nicosia, Cyprus. Specifically, a public pilot is planned to be installed at the New Nicosia Town Hall, where an existing 12 KWp PV system will be AC-coupled with a 15 KW / 27.9 KWh Lithium-ion Battery Storage System (BSS), including a power metering system. The New Nicosia Town Hall is the first building in Cyprus in which all the required bioclimatic design principles have been implemented in order for the building to be considered as a passive building.
In addition, five residential pilots are to be implemented in the wider area of Nicosia. These are pilots with typical energy consumption and already installed PV systems, where 2.5 KW / 9.3 KWh Lithium-ion BSS is to be integrated in each site. All technical specifications and standards of the Public and Residential systems have been determined and the purchase of the equipment has been contracted. All pilots are expected to be commissioned by December 2018.
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THESSALONIKI, GREECE
The AUTH pilot installation in the AUTH Research Committee building is currently under the tender stage for the commissioning and installation of the equipment. It is planned to be concluded by February 2019. The pilot consist of:
- 15 kWp PV panels + 15 kW inverters + 18 kWh batteries
- Metering and control equipment for monitoring both electrical and thermal energy
- Communication, data acquisition & display features
During the pilot operation the overall building energy performance, both thermal and electrical, will be monitored under different operational scenarios. More specifically the following building features will be monitored: Thermal loads (heating & cooling). Ventilation, outdoor and indoor temperatures, PV generation, electrical loads, energy storage.
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KOZANI, GREECE
The Technological Research Center of Western Macedonia plans to install a 20 kWp PV installation coupled with 2 hybrid inverters (2x10kW) and LiFePO4 energy storage system (10,24 kWh/inverter), located within one of the buildings of the student dormitories of the research center. The system will be also accomplished with power metering system. All technical specification and standards of the system have been determined and the purchases of the inverter and battery systems are to be contracted. The tender relating to the PV panels, their base structures and installation is ongoing and will be finalized by mid-November. The full pilot is expected to be finalized by March 2019.
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SKOPJE, FYROM
As part of the PV-ESTIA project, an energy storage system has been installed at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies. Standing in the hall of the annex building, a metal casing holds the 7.7 kWh Lithium Titanate (LTO) battery. It has been coupled with a Canadian Solar PV generator with a capacity of 10 kWp through a hybrid inverter, while an additional PV generator with a capacity of 12 kWp has also been installed. In order to fully monitor the system’s operation in real time (currents, voltages, power, energy, power factor, harmonics), monitoring equipment is being installed so as to provide continuous, reliable and accurate measurements. The data obtained from the measurements shall later be used for optimizing the battery operation modes.
Moreover, numerous households have shown interest in participating in the research of PV-ESTIA. This will be achieved through the selection of twenty households where smart meters will be installed. The smart meters will enable the monitoring of households’ electricity consumption in real time, allowing them to see when and how they consume electricity.
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DISSEMINATION AND PROMOTION
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BULGARIA
Several workshops and other dissemination events were organised by the Energy Agency of Plovdiv in order to:
- Provide comprehensive information about the PV ESTIA project
- Discuss and obtain the stakeholders’ feedback on technological, institutional, financial, market and legislative barriers in energy storage behind the meter topic, namely:
- Definition of energy storage;
- Ownership of energy storage systems
- How should the prosumer be rewarded for increasing self-consumption and/or providing services to the grid? ;
- What type of incentives are needed? ;
- How should prosumer be rewarded for increasing self-consumption and/or providing services to the grid?
- Present the Clean Energy for All Europeans policy package with particular focus on NZEBs and the latest energy efficiency and RES policy tendencies.
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CYPRUS:
The University of Cyprus (UCY) participated in a number of promotional events with the aim of providing a comprehensive information about the PV ESTIA project, introduced below:
- Several press releases were published in the local and national media and online portals that appeal to a very large audience.
- Targeted stakeholder meetings were conducted in the context of Deliverable 3.2. The meeting were significant for the dissemination and communication activities of PV-ESTIA, as stakeholders were informed about the aim and the objectives of the project.
- An Expression of Interest was published and widely disseminated (local press, websites, etc.) in September 2018 to identify the pilot locations of the project.
- The project was disseminated within the National Workshop organized by the UCY through November 2018.
- The project was disseminated during the 6th International Conference on Renewable Energy Sources & Energy Efficiency, November 2018.
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GREECE:
The Technological Research Center of Western Macedonia and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering participated in a number of promotional events in Greece, grouped accordingly:
- Conference and other promotional events:
- 5th IEEE International Energy Conference (ENERGYCON 2018) - a paper entitled “A UPSO based Optimal BEVs Charging for Voltage Quality Improvement” has been presented by TRCWM in order to raise the scientific awareness of the PV-ESTIA project and disseminate the scientific results of field trials, simulations, modelling, etc.
- International meeting of the PV-ESTIA consortium at the Mediterranean TP for Smart Grids under the auspices of the Cyprus TP for Smart Grids , where presentation entitled “The PV-ESTIA project – Targets, challenges, Opportunities” was made.
- Two scientific conferences - EnergyCON 2018 and SIELA 2018, where two papers submitted by AUTH were presented. In both presentations, the project and its goals were described, as well as the initial findings regarding regional storage policies and barriers. These have been recorded to facilitate the implementation of the pilot installations and the development of proper methodologies to simulate the building energy performance with PV and storage.
The papers can be found in the repository of Power Systems Lab of AUTH Electrical Energy Engineering Department in:
- Workshop participation:
- TRCWM and AUTH participated in a workshop at the Ministry of Environment and Energy that included consultants of the Ministry, researchers from the Centre of Renewable Energy Resources, members of the Regulatory Authority of Greece (RAE), administrative staff from the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO) S.A. and other key people of the Greek energy sector, who were informed about the project and its objectives. The legislative environment in Greece and Europe, the technical barriers to the implementation of storage in buildings, as well as the economic issues for storage and the need for subsidies were discussed. Feedback was received through a number of discussions and a questionnaire.
- PV ESTIA has been also presented within a workshop that involved stakeholders from local and regional governments, engineers, academics and private companies entitled “Electricity Storage, Electrification and Renewable Energy Sources Carve the Future of Growth-driven by Environment Improvement”.
- A roundtable discussing business models for storage in energy communities took place within the EU HEROES H2020 project, where a presentation entitled “Overview of the PV-ESTIA Project” was made by TRCWM.
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FYROM:
With the goal of engaging local and national stakeholders, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies initiated, organized or took part in the following promotional events:
- Workshops, meetings and other events:
- Workshop on policy barriers and opportunities related to NZEBs and PV+storage integration in Skopje;
- Workshops on local barriers for PV+storage integration in Bitola and Gevgelija;
- Bilateral meetings (Municipality of Karposh, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Energy Regulatory Commission);
- Student Job Fair;
- Media event for the PV+storage system at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies – Skopje;
- TV interview on national television.
- Conferences:
- ETAI Conference 2018, a paper titled “On the Effectiveness of Three Battery Control Strategy Formulations for Residential Photovoltaic systems” was presented. The goal of the presentation was to inform academia and industry representatives of the technical outcomes when choosing different battery operating strategies.
- Energetics Conference2018, the technical paper “The PV-ESTIA Project: Possibilities and Perspectives for Increasing the Integration of Energy Storage Systems” was presented, informing present stakeholders of the aim, scope and expected outcomes of the project.
- GREDIT Conference 2018, members of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies took part in the poster session.
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Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
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Technological Research Center of Western Macedonia
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University of Cyprus - Foss Research Centre For Sustainable Energy
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Energy Agency of Plovdiv
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Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
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Ministry of Environment and Energy - Directorate for Renewables and Electricity
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