Techno-Economic Feasibility Analysis of Integrated Heat Pump and Solar Cell Systems for Commercial Buildings

Abstract

As economic feasilibity is one of the utmost tonality in every single thing exclusively in energy disciplines, it is consequential assesing the techno-economic feasibility of integrated heat pump and solar cell systems for commercial buildings. This thesis investigates the techno-economic feasibility of heat pump and solar system for the i4Health building at UiA considering performance evaluation, cost effectiveness, and environmental impact and a potential analysis of cost effectiveness towards 2040. In the beginning, Coefficient of Performance (COP) has been evaluated for the Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) to analyze the performance and Solar System’s (SS) performance has been analyzed on the basis of Performance Ratio (PR) and Solar Ratio (SR). Secondly, Annual cost savings from GSHPs and SS as well as the contribution of GSHPs and SS to the building’s economy along with the Payback Periods (PPs) indicate cost-effectiveness. An estimation model is developed presenting cost effectiveness towards 2040. Lastly, reduction of CO2 gas by GSHPs and SS of i4Health building has been estimated for analyzing environmental impact. Performance evaluation, cost-effectiveness, and environmental impact estimations are conducted using Python Programming and the model presenting a future scenario of cost effectiveness of GSHPs and SS for i4Health building has been developed by Multiple Variable Linear Regression Model (MVLRM) using Jupyter Notebook. The findings present that COP varies around 4.98-5.7 per week in cold weather and around 3.26-4.43 per week in warm weather. PR of solar system is 96% in 2022 whereas 89% in 2023. Solar system has highest SR in week 23 of 2023. Heat pump saves costing at 1.899 NOK/kwh in 2022 with a highest value in week 50 and 1 NOK/kwh in 2023 with a highest value in week 48. Solar system saves costing NOK 355121.69 in 2022 with a highest value in week 35 and NOK 122414.82 in 2023 with a highest value in week 24. From the cost savings model, NOK 398233.09, NOK 1474462.2, NOK 2902506.45 and NOK 3976269.33 is saved for the year 2025, 2030, 2035 and 2040 chronologically by heat pump and, at the same time NOK 293277.4, NOK 1612463.33, NOK 3370724.8 and NOK 4686860.5 is saved by solar system. The contribution of heat pump is 54.4% and 65.3% for the year 2022 and 2023 whereas the contribution of solar system is 60.27% and 56.59% at the same time. Payback period for heat pump is 16.33 years, and 30.63 years for solar system. This research also finds that heat pump and solar system reduce 32.28 ton and 36.05 ton CO2 in 2022 and, 35.66 ton and 33.69 ton in 2023. The thesis creates significant futute work opportunities.