Electric vehicle-based distant energy sharing between zero-emission coastal office and hotel buildings

Abstract

With the rapid growth of distributed renewable energy systems, energy sharing brings a practical solution to mitigate mismatching between intermittent electricity generation and building demand. In past research, energy sharing was designed mostly for onshore energy integrated systems and is commonly realised with the assistance of microgrids, distributed battery storage, or peer-to-peer energy trading. This research innovatively proposed a distant energy sharing between the ocean energy-supported coastal office building and hotel building by ten electric vehicles, enabling the circulation of ocean renewable energy between two buildings. This project aims to accomplish maximum technical, environmental and economic benefits for the stakeholder. Using bidirectional vehicle-building interaction, advanced control algorithms, including shifting vehicle batches, sizing renewable capacity, and involving stationary batteries, are implemented successively in the TRNSYS simulation as analysis groups to enhance the current system's performance. According to the results, the vehicle-based bidirectional energy sharing between these two buildings can attain a relative net present value of 49.18 million HKD and a weighted matching index of 0.63. After implementing advanced controls with stationary batteries, the system achieved a relative net present value of 62.15 million HKD with an improved matching index of 0.70. Both batteries contributed to increase the matching performance of the system, but the increase in battery capacity reduces the benefit due to their replacement cost. This research developed an energy management system for effectively utilising electric vehicles and coastal renewable energy for distant energy sharing. It elucidated the technological, environmental, and economic benefits to the stakeholders for effective decision-making.