Simulation of cogeneration within the concept of smart energy networks

Recently tremendous research effort has been made to cope with the challenges in providing a sustainable energy solution for achieving economic and environmental goals. The concept of smart energy networks (SEN) goes beyond the electricity-based smart grid (SG) environment. The availability of new technologies for utilizing renewables such as solar, wind, geothermal and biomass and possibility of integrating natural gas and heating/cooling pipelines into the electricity grid network have provided a base for reducing the carbon footprint of fossil fuels and to produce a better energy security in a SEN environment. Especially, cogeneration systems in SEN can provide a promising solution for effectively supplying energy from a variety of combine heat and power generators to district consumers in an urban environment. In this study, a community-scale energy network is modeled and simulated using TRNSYS (Transient System Simulation Software) to investigate the impacts of the selected cogeneration systems on real-time critical parameters of SEN. The simulation results show that, through analyzing the key factors, the cogeneration model can be technically and economically feasible in SEN environment. The model follows effectively the heat-to-power ratios of the individual components and meets the energy demand with less excess electricity supply. The model describes a high renewable contribution ratio of 23.5% and gives a high overall efficiency which is about 12.6% higher than that of the separate heat and power generation system, resulting in a low emission level which is 34.2% lower than that of the separate heat and power generation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.