Design and assessment of energy infrastructure in new decarbonized urban districts: a Spanish case study

L. De Rosa, M. Martínez, J.I. Linares, C. Mateo, T. Gómez, R. Cossent, F. Postigo Marcos, A. Sánchez, F. Martín

Energy Reports Vol. 11, pp. 4631 - 4641

Summary:

New urban districts have great potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by electrifying energy demand in various sectors, such as transportation and buildings. This paper proposes a novel approach that combines different energy models to plan the infrastructure for supplying the energy demand of new, decarbonized, and highly electrified urban districts on a real-world scale. First, a model for energy management in buildings is used to plan and operate equipment for heating, cooling, and solar photovoltaic distributed generation. Second, a model that plans electric vehicle charging infrastructure determines the number and types of charging stations. Then, a large-scale distribution network planning model designs a cost-efficient electricity distribution grid to supply the district. A case study is presented for a new urban district in Madrid, Spain, to demonstrate how this approach can be applied to energy infrastructure planning in a real-world context. This case study presents different scenarios of energy efficiency performances in buildings and penetration levels of solar installations, electric vehicles, and heating and cooling systems. The results show that even in a high electrification scenario, improving energy efficiency in buildings through a district heating network based on heat pumps can lead to a lower peak electricity demand. This peak load reduction allows for integrating more electric vehicles, avoiding further investments in the electricity distribution network. In addition, the results confirm that a highly electrified scenario, which combines energy-efficient buildings with high integration of solar and electric vehicles, significantly reduces non-renewable energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Spanish layman's summary:

Este artículo presenta un enfoque integral para planificar la infraestructura energética de distritos urbanos sostenibles. En el caso de estudio se combinan eficiencia energética, bombas de calor, fotovoltaica y vehículos eléctricos para reducir emisiones sin coste adicional en la red eléctrica.

English layman's summary:

This paper presents an integral approach to the planning of energy infrastructure in decarbonized urban districts. The case study shows that combining energy efficiency, heat pumps, photovoltaics and electric vehicles can reduce emissions without additional costs on electricity distribution grids.

Keywords: Smart districts; Grid-interactive efficient buildings; Distribution network planning; Electric vehicles; Heat pumps

JCR Impact Factor and WoS quartile: 5,200 - Q2 (2022)

DOI reference: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2024.04.037

Published on paper: June 2024.

Published on-line: April 2024.

Citation:
L. De Rosa, M. Martínez, J.I. Linares, C. Mateo, T. Gómez, R. Cossent, F. Postigo Marcos, A. Sánchez, F. Martín, Design and assessment of energy infrastructure in new decarbonized urban districts: a Spanish case study. Energy Reports. Vol. 11, pp. 4631 - 4641, June 2024. [Online: April 2024]