Strategic Planning for Ordinary Buildings to Adopt the Latest Solar and Wind Hybrid Power Generating Technologies

Project Details

Description

Buildings are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions according to United Nations EnvironmentProgramme and various studies; it means their energy sources require substantial adjustment. Using renewables,in particular, sunlight and wind, is an effective measure to reduce buildings’ energy dependence onthe power grid. Therefore, many countries have begun harvesting solar and wind energy in huge quantitiesby running very large solar and wind farms, not to mention the numerous installations of solar panels andwind turbines at various public and private buildings, e.g. homes, schools and commercial buildings.Simulation-based software has been the main tool for assessing solar-wind hybrid power generatingsystems and identifying their optimal configuration. These tools use simulation to handle the physics of solarcell and wind turbine (e.g. photovoltaics, fluid dynamics) and the highly complex interactions betweenpower loads, solar panels/wind turbines and local weather. To start simulation, the user must provide thepotential solar panel and/or wind turbine model(s) to be deployed; that is, the user must somehow determinesuch information for running simulations. There are other planning approaches using different methodologies,such as heuristics (especially, the genetic algorithms) or time series, but they also require similar inputsto work properly.However, the existing tools may not work well when facing the latest or emerging solar/wind technologies,especially when buildings are in the vicinity of metropolitan areas where space is a premium. Thesetechnologies include different types of solar tracker (using them will require more space and money but will表CM02 共 3 頁,第 2 頁also collect more energy), solar panels designed for use as the surface of roads, driveways and parking lots,various types of modular wind turbine (which can easily be sized up or down to meet the actual needs), andwind turbines designed for locations which are off limit for conventional turbines. And there are solar panelsand wind turbines integrated into the same piece of device. When these technologies are being planned,the task of searching an optimal system configuration will exhibit a strong nature of combinatorial optimization.Clearly, existing tools are not suitable for this kind of tasks.Therefore, a strategic planning approach is needed to address the challenge in constructing an optimalsolar-wind hybrid energy system for buildings, with consideration of conventional and the latest/emergingtechnologies. As graphically illustrated below, this research will adopt mixed-integer programming to facilitatethe performance of existing tools by providing them with strategic guidance in potential system components(which solar/wind devices, quantities, individual configurations), approximate location for installation,and long-term deployment plans.The proposed research is important because it will1. Develop a strategic planning methodology to help resolve global warming.2. Advocate a promising two-step planning approach (depicted below) for real applications.3. Provide insight into how the buildings sector may contribute to resolving global warming with the newsolar/wind technologies.4. Explore methodologies for solving a variation of two-dimensional packing problems.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/08/1631/07/17

UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This project contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

Keywords

  • renewable energy
  • combinatorial optimization
  • mixed-integer programming
  • strategic planning

Fingerprint

Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.