Applicability Study on a Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Net-Zero Energy House in Shanghai

Abstract

Governments around the world are establishing technological routes and tactics for low/zero-energy buildings to reduce emissions and energy use. This paper describes a hybrid renewable energy system developed for a net-zero energy low-rise residential building located in Shanghai, China. This hybrid renewable energy system consists of a water-based photovoltaic/thermal (PVT) collector and a ground water-source heat pump (GWSHP). The hybrid system is designed to produce heating, cooling and electricity during both winter and summer by using solar energy and ground surface water energy respectively. Firstly, field tests on the PVT collector and GWSHP were carried out to obtain their thermal performance, and then analytical models for the PVT collector and performance curve of the GWSHP were developed and validated by the experimental data. In addition, the balance between annual energy production and consumption was estimated to evaluate the applicability of this system for the on-grid net-zero energy residential building in Shanghai. It is shown that the detached house with the PVT-GWSHP system can provide 109.3% of total requirements for heating, cooling and electricity, and has potentials to realize the net-zero energy target.

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1876-6102 © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of CUE 2015
doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2016.06.108
Energy Procedia 88 ( 2016 ) 768 – 774
ScienceDirect
CUE2015-Applied Energy Symposium and Summit 2015: Low carbon cities and urban
energy systems
Applicability Study on a Hybrid Renewable Energy System
for Net-Zero Energy House in Shanghai
Shihao Zhanga, Zhi Zhuangb,
*
, Yidong Hua, Baoshun Yanga, Hongwei Tanb
aCollege of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
bCollege of Architecture of Urban Planning,Green Building and New-Energy Insitute, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Abstract
Governments around the world are establishing technological routes and tactics for low/zero-energy buildings to reduce
emissions and energy use. This paper describes a hybrid renewable energy system developed for a net-zero energy low-
rise residential building located in Shanghai, China. This hybrid renewable energy system consists of a water-based
photovoltaic/thermal (PVT) collector and a ground water-source heat pump (GWSHP). The hybrid system is designed
to produce heating, cooling and electricity during both winter and summer by using solar energy and ground surface
water energy respectively. Firstly, field tests on the PVT collector and GWSHP were carried out to obtain their thermal
performance, and then analytical models for the PVT collector and performance curve of the GWSHP were developed
and validated by the experimental data. In addition, the balance between annual energy production and consumption
was estimated to evaluate the applicability of this system for the on-grid net-zero energy residential building in
Shanghai. It is shown that the detached house with the PVT-GWSHP system can provide 109.3% of total requirements
for heating, cooling and electricity, and has potentials to realize the net-zero energy target.
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of CUE
Keywords: Net-zero energy building; Photovoltaic/thermal collector; Ground water-source heat pump; Building energy simulation.
1. Introduction
The utilization of renewable energy for low/zero-energy buildings mainly includes solar photovoltaic
technology, solar thermal technology, ground source heat pump and etc. [1]. Photovoltaic/thermal (PVT)
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +086-21-65980778; fax: +086-21-65981002
E-mail address: zhuangzhi@tongji.edu.cn
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of CUE 2015

Shihao Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 88 ( 2016 ) 768 – 774 769
collector is an efficient holistic solar energy solution that simultaneously converts solar energy into
electricity and heat [2]. A trend of comprehensive utilization of renewable energy and low-level thermal
energy is to integrate the PV system with the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Up
to date, various studies have been undertaken on solar heating system [3], solar-absorption refrigerating
system, solar assisted ground source heat pump heating system [4], etc. However, the promotion and
application of these hybrid renewable energy systems, sustainable operation has become the major
constraints. The energy supply of solar photovoltaic/thermal system is unstable due to the influence of
weather variations, and the performance of ground source heat pump is limited by site condition and source
capacity. Therefore, the maximum utilization of those renewable system has not been well studied.
This study developed and implemented an innovative HVAC system incorporating a hybrid renewable
energy system, sufficiently utilizing solar energy to generate electricity as well as to pre-heat the water into
the GWSHP. The heated water then improves the secondary heating efficiency of GWSHP in winter and
reduces the domestic hot water heating energy through the year. The objective of this study is to prove the
applicability of this hybrid renewable energy system particularly for zero-energy house in Shanghai, the
hot-summer and cold-winter zone of China with insufficient solar irradiation.
2. System introduction
2.1. Building and system layout
The experimental house as shown in Figure 1 locates in Shanghai, China. The specification is shown in
Table 1. The PVT collectors are implemented on the roof within the building’s footprint. The electricity
generated by the PVT can access city power grid after converted into alternating current by the inverter.
The PVT collector heats water coming from the water storage tank and thereby provides heating to the heat
storage water tank connected with the ground heat exchanger as the hot water source in winter. Ground
surface water piping system is also implemented as an alternative water source to the heat exchanger, which
is illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 1 Zero-energy residential house

770 Shihao Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 88 ( 2016 ) 768 – 774
Table 1. Residential building specification
Items
Value
Floor to ceiling height
3.05 m
HVAC system
Fan coil; Temperature & humidity independently controlled
Ventilation rate
30 m3/h person
Hot water
200 L/day
Building envelope
Exterior walls
0.1 W/(m2.K)
Interior walls
0.4 W/(m2.K)
Windows
0.8 W/(m2.K); Solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) 0.5
Glass door
0.8 W/(m2.K); Solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) 0.5
Roof
0.12 W/(m2.K)
Shading coefficient (SC)
0.73
Figure 2 Schematic of system configurations: GWSHP and PVT
2.2. Operating strategies
In winter, since the daily solar radiation is unsteady, when the temperature of the heat storage water tank
goes below the lower limit, the ground heat exchanger will switch the valves to the ground surface water
piping system as water source. The temperature of the hot water storage tank and water storage tank would
be kept in a proper range, to meet both the demand of the heat pump and PVT module.
During the cooling season, the valves are switched to ground surface water piping system, providing
cooling water for the heat exchanger and the return water goes to the water storage tank. Domestic hot
water can be made by the heat pump when valves are switched to the hot water storage tank.
3. System test and modelling

Shihao Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 88 ( 2016 ) 768 – 774 771
3.1. Field test parameters
Field test had been conducted through the year. Parameters including inlet/outlet temperature, flow rate,
electricity production/consumption, solar radiation intensity, COP of GWSHP and generating capacity and
efficiency of PVT were recorded.
3.2. PVT analytical model
By synthesizing and test data analysis, the soar irradiation intensity, PVT inlet water temperature and
ambient temperature appear as three specific parameters of PVT heat-collecting efficiency. Then
mathematical model can be established by regressing fitting, with difference less than 15%. Similarly, the
PV panel temperature and irradiation intensity are specific parameters of PVT generating efficiency, but
those two parameters are not mutual independent, a large portion of solar irritation will convert to heat, thus
raise the temperature of PV panel. A practical method is discovered that divides the date with specific
temperature range, the generating efficiency and thermal collecting efficiency of the PVT can be obtained
with a good consistency (as shown in Figure 3 and 4) by regression analysis which has linear performance
with incident solar irradiation. The summary of the PVT mathematical model is given in Table 2.
Figure 3 PVT generating efficiency
Figure 4 PVT thermal collecting efficiency

772 Shihao Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 88 ( 2016 ) 768 – 774
Table 2 Summary of the PVT mathematical model
Conditions
Equation
5~25°C, 0~1000W/m²
ߟ௣௩ ൌͲǤͲͳ͸ͳܫ݊ܩ ൅ͲǤͷͳͷ
25~35°C, 0~500W/m²
ߟ௣௩ ൌͲǤͲͳ͸ͳܫ݊ܩ ൅ͲǤͷͳͷ
25~35°C, 500~1000W/m²
ߟ௣௩ ൌͲǤͳͳͻͻ͵ െͻǤ͵ൈͳͲି଺ܩ
35~60°C, 0~1000W/m²
ߟ௣௩ ൌͲǤͳͷͲʹͺ െ͵Ǥͺͺ ൈͳͲିହܩ
5~60°C, 0~1000W/m²
ߟ௧௛ ൌͲǤ͵ͺͶͶ െͳͲǤ͸ͻʹሺݐ௜െݐ
௔
ܩሻ
4. Results and discussion
4.1.
Annual energy consumption/production
The annual energy consumption of the studied system was 3658.7kWh, and the overall energy
consumption intensity was 65.3kWh/m2. The breakdown demonstrated that HVAC annual consumption
was 2076.0kWh, lighting was 648.7Wh, and the rest were other equipment consisting of 934.1kWh.
The installed capacity of PVT collector is 26.2m2, and the volume of the hot water storage tank is 1.4m3.
The annual energy production can be calculated by the PVT mathematical model using the Solar and Wind
Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA) data of Shanghai. Figure 5 shows the monthly power generation
and consumption of the building. The annual on-site power generation intensity was 152.6kWh/ m2.
The annual energy consumption and production for the whole year is illustrated in Figure 6. During the
heating period, the total electricity generation is 1222.7 kWh, thermal energy collection is 2122.0 kWh,
while the system energy consumption is 1476.7 kWh. While during the cooling period, the total electricity
generation is 1608.5 kWh, thermal energy collection is 4517.1 kWh, while the system energy consumption
is 1538.0 kWh. Besides, the low-level thermal energy is utilized through the year. During the cooling and
transition seasons, the PVT heated water is not consumed by the HVAC system, however this accordingly
contributes to reduce the energy consumption of domestic hot water supply.
Figure 5 Annual power generation/consumption

Shihao Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 88 ( 2016 ) 768 – 774 773
Figure 8 Annual energy consumption and production
5. Conclusions
This paper introduced an innovative hybrid PVT-GWSHP renewable energy system for a net-zero
energy house, which is designed to produce heating, cooling and electricity during both winter and summer
by using solar energy and ground surface water energy respectively. The applicability of the hybrid PVT-
GWSHP system in detached house located in hot summer and cold winter city Shanghai was evaluated by
both field test and modelling analysis. The annual energy consumption of the studied case is 3658.7kWh,
less than the annual on-site energy generation 4000.1kWh, and the system has been proved to be applicable
on this on-grid zero-energy house, and hence has potential for low/zero-energy low-rise residential
buildings in Shanghai. The utilization of the test and simulation data for system optimization, as well as the
economic analysis and environment impact assessment for the system will be studied in near future.
Acknowledgements
The work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and a grant
from the Science & Technology Planning Project by Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development,
(No. 2014-K1-036). Thanks to Lei Y. for his technical insights and advice.
References
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[2] Tiwari G N, Mishra R K, Solanki S C. Photovoltaic modules and their applications: A review on thermal modelling. Applied
Energy 2011; 88(7):2287-2304.
[3] Ortiz M, Barsun H, He H, et al. Modeling of a solar-assisted HVAC system with thermal storage. Energy and Buildings 2010;
42(4):500-509.
[4] Ozgener O, Hepbasli A. Experimental Performance Analysis Of A Solar Assisted Ground-Source Heat Pump Greenhouse
Heating System. Energy and Buildings 2005;37(1):101-110.

774 Shihao Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 88 ( 2016 ) 768 – 774
Nomenclature
¨
pv Generating efficiency of PVT
¨
th thermal collecting efficiency of PVT
G Irradiation intensity
ti Inlet water temperature
ta Ambient temperature
Biography
Dr. Zhi Zhuang is an Assistant Professor from the College of Architecture of Urban
Planning in Tongji University of China. His research interest is building energy
efficiency, renewable energy application and green building design.