BUILDING-INTEGRATED VERTICAL MICRO-WIND TURBINE IN THE SOUTH OF ITALY: ENERGY, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF A TYPICAL CASE STUDY

The energy systems serving residential buildings significantly contribute to the worldwide energy demand. Renewable sources are gaining more and more attention to address the public awareness associated to the climate change. In particular, the scientific interest on small-scale wind turbines is significantly increasing thanks to their low maintenance cost, high reliability, wide wind operation range and reduced environmental impact. In this paper the performance of a commercial vertical micro-wind turbine while serving a typical single-family house located in Naples (south of Italy) have been analyzed by means of the TRaNsient SYStems simulation tool (TRNSYS). This software is widely adopted in the scientific community for detailed modelling of energy systems as it takes into account the transient nature of building and occupant driven loads, the part-load characteristics of generation systems, as well as the interaction between loads and systems’ output. An annual stochastic profile (consisting of 365 different daily stochastic profiles) has been considered for defining the electric power demand of the building. Climatic data (including wind velocity) have been obtained from a specific EnergyPlus weather data file based on satellite and weather station measurements in Naples. A detailed dynamic simulation model, validated in contrast with experimental data, has been used to fully characterize the electric output of the vertical micro-wind turbine as a function of the wind velocity. The energy, environmental and economic performance of the building-integrated vertical micro-wind turbine have been compared with those associated to the same building while served by the central electric grid only. The comparison has been performed in order to assess the potential savings in terms of primary energy consumption, equivalent carbon dioxide emissions as well as operating costs and, therefore, evaluate the suitability of the proposed system with respect to the traditional scheme.