Toward a Green Energy Community: Integration of micro-ORCs combined with renewable energy technologies in buildings

Abstract

Distributed microgeneration is an alternative for aggregate energy integration into the electricity grid. Low-temperature heat recovery systems, such as ORCs, are particularly interesting given their compactness and safety for application in the residential sector, operating at moderate pressures and low heat source temperatures. Energy surpluses generated by renewable technologies commonly used in the building sector, such as photovoltaics or micro-wind, can be used to power systems that provide backup and add inertia to the grid. In this study, micro-ORCs (< 2 kWe) were integrated with different heat supply technologies in buildings, including storage with DHW water tanks or sensible heat in bedrock for heating. An overview of possible configurations and techno-economic optimization is provided, offering combined strategies with other installations and additional characterization of energy communities with a larger number of connected neighbors, determining optimized integrations for covering thermal and electrical demands.