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Effects of time resolution on finances and self-consumption when modeling domestic PV-battery systems

Effects of time resolution on finances and self-consumption when modeling domestic PV-battery systems
Effects of time resolution on finances and self-consumption when modeling domestic PV-battery systems
When modeling a renewable energy system, the timestep to use is an important consideration. Timestep, or time resolution, can have an impact on results, influencing the sizing of the system and whether or not to invest at all. In this work, real measured data for an entire year at 15-s resolution from a rooftop PV array and 8 household loads in the UK are used. The PV and load time series are averaged to lower resolution: 1-min, 5-min, 30-min and 1-h, and the results from using them as input to a 25-year simulation of PV-only and PV-battery systems are compared to the 15-s resolution results. Load resolution is confirmed to be more important than PV resolution for improving accuracy of self-sufficiency and cost metrics; the presence of a battery is confirmed to reduce the errors of using low resolution compared to PV-only. However, these findings only apply to the commonly tested Greedy algorithm but not the newly developed Emissions Arbitrage algorithm. A wider range of metrics are calculated here than in previous work, finding consistency in that low resolution overstates the benefits of PV-battery, but variation in percentage difference across the metrics used. Further aspects not studied before include: the diminishing returns in computation speed when time resolution is lowered, and the effect of time resolution on the tipping point when certain configurations become more attractive propositions than others. Time resolution of input data and modeling are issues not only for researchers in academia and industry, but from a consumer protection perspective too.
Solar PV, Battery, Techno-economic;, Time resolution, Modeling
2352-4847
157-165
Sun, Susan Isaya
61b831f2-4930-4b85-b940-297bb15da4e1
Smith, B D
0819f262-a575-492e-baea-90eaee9c2b30
Wills, Richard
60b7c98f-eced-4b11-aad9-fd2484e26c2c
Crossland, A.F.
55ba3bf5-a208-4b4b-a0a9-31e7e85dff58
Sun, Susan Isaya
61b831f2-4930-4b85-b940-297bb15da4e1
Smith, B D
0819f262-a575-492e-baea-90eaee9c2b30
Wills, Richard
60b7c98f-eced-4b11-aad9-fd2484e26c2c
Crossland, A.F.
55ba3bf5-a208-4b4b-a0a9-31e7e85dff58

Sun, Susan Isaya, Smith, B D, Wills, Richard and Crossland, A.F. (2020) Effects of time resolution on finances and self-consumption when modeling domestic PV-battery systems. Energy Reports, 5, 157-165. (doi:10.1016/j.egyr.2020.03.020).

Record type: Article

Abstract

When modeling a renewable energy system, the timestep to use is an important consideration. Timestep, or time resolution, can have an impact on results, influencing the sizing of the system and whether or not to invest at all. In this work, real measured data for an entire year at 15-s resolution from a rooftop PV array and 8 household loads in the UK are used. The PV and load time series are averaged to lower resolution: 1-min, 5-min, 30-min and 1-h, and the results from using them as input to a 25-year simulation of PV-only and PV-battery systems are compared to the 15-s resolution results. Load resolution is confirmed to be more important than PV resolution for improving accuracy of self-sufficiency and cost metrics; the presence of a battery is confirmed to reduce the errors of using low resolution compared to PV-only. However, these findings only apply to the commonly tested Greedy algorithm but not the newly developed Emissions Arbitrage algorithm. A wider range of metrics are calculated here than in previous work, finding consistency in that low resolution overstates the benefits of PV-battery, but variation in percentage difference across the metrics used. Further aspects not studied before include: the diminishing returns in computation speed when time resolution is lowered, and the effect of time resolution on the tipping point when certain configurations become more attractive propositions than others. Time resolution of input data and modeling are issues not only for researchers in academia and industry, but from a consumer protection perspective too.

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1-s2.0-S2352484720302109-main - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 22 March 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 21 May 2020
Keywords: Solar PV, Battery, Techno-economic;, Time resolution, Modeling

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 450817
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/450817
ISSN: 2352-4847
PURE UUID: 0976e9b2-9775-494d-926e-b1cd60f4e10a
ORCID for Susan Isaya Sun: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1976-269X
ORCID for Richard Wills: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4805-7589

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Date deposited: 12 Aug 2021 16:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:46

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Contributors

Author: Susan Isaya Sun ORCID iD
Author: B D Smith
Author: Richard Wills ORCID iD
Author: A.F. Crossland

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