Community energy system planning: a case study on technology selection and operation optimization

Community energy planning has attracted wide attention in China as the implementation of China’s low-carbon city policies. Meanwhile the rapid development of energy science and technology has shifted buildings and communities from energy consumers to prosumers, which lead to more difficulties in configuring the energy technology portfolio. This study es-tablishes an optimal decision-making model for community energy planning and develops an online tool called District EnErgy Planning(DEEP). Based on DEEP, the impact of energy price and equipment cost on optimization results, and the corresponding operational strategies are discussed through case study and scenario analysis. The results show that, when natural gas price exceeds 2yuan/m3 the gas-based solutions become economically uncompetitive. The technologies are propitious when equipment prices are reduced by 50%, 50%, 80% for CHP facilities, PV panels and electric battery, respectively.