Energy Efficiency and Grid Flexibility through Building To Vehicle To Buildings Approach: Modelling and Simulation

This paper focuses on a novel energy management approach, namely Building to Vehicle to Building (V2B2), conceived for cluster of buildings connected in micro-grids, by considering electric vehicles as vector devices for renewable energy exchanges. The main goal behind this concept is to benefit from the potentiality of electric vehicles toward the achievement of the zero-energy target, extended to the buildings of a virtual micro-grid, by exploiting off-site the PV generation. To this aim, a dynamic simulation model is suitably developed for the building energy demands and loads assessment, taking also into account the vehicles energy use. PV electricity is stored in the vehicle batteries and dispatched to other buildings or, at last, to the power grid. In order to show the advantages of the proposed concept and the potentials of the developed simulation tool, implemented in TRNSYS, a suitable case study is conducted. It refers to a non-residential net zero energy building where PV panels are installed for renewable energy production, also supplied to three electric vehicles. These also acts as energy vectors providing stored electricity to two other buildings, where off-site renewable energy is exploited. At the micro-grid level, the match between renewable generation and system demand (buildings and electric vehicles’ needs) is enhanced, reducing the grid operation and boosting the system economic convenience.