Energy hub modeling to minimize residential energy costs considering solar energy and BESS

This paper aims to optimize total energy costs in an operational model of a novel energy hub (EH) in a residential area. The optimization problem is set up based on daily load demand (such as electricity, heat, and cooling) and time-of-use (TOU) energy prices. The extended EH model considers the involvement of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation, solar heat exchanger (SHE), and a battery energy storage system (BESS). A mathematical model is constructed with the objective of optimizing total energy cost during the day, including some constraints such as input-output energy balance of the EH, electricity price, capacity limitation of the system, and charge/discharge power of BESS. Four operational cases based on different EH structures are compared to assess the effect of solar energy applications and BESS on the operational efficiency. The results show that the proposed model predicts significant changes to the characteristics of electricity and gas power bought from utilities, leading to reduced total energy cost compared to other cases. They also indicate that the model is appropriate for the characteristics of residential loads.