Energy Flexibility in a Planning Context: A Pilot Project

This award-winning poster was presented at the annual ERBE-LoLo Colloquium in 2021 to the flexibility and resilience category. The poster summarises a pilot project completed prior, reflecting on the impacts of energy flexibility at the building level on urban planning. Initial findings from this pilot project helped shape future research throughout the PhD project.

A building energy model was developed using Dymola (Modelica Language) to test different technology arrangements and explore the impact of parameter variation through a sensitivity analysis.

Key findings:

• Optimising for operating cost results in increased annual demand in scenarios without self-generation
• Introducing active storage increases capital costs but can reduce operating costs
• Hot water tanks are the most cost-effective storage solution, but in combination with solar PV and batteries improves the return on investment

The ERBE CDT is the EPSRC and SFI Centre for Doctoral Training in Energy Resilience and the Built Environment.