Energy hubs optimization for smart energy network system to minimize economic and environmental impact at Canadian community

Abstract Recently, significant attention has been given to distributed power and thermal generation instead of centralized power plants. This study investigates the energy production of five energy hubs in a smart energy network set up for minimizing the energy cost and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions under different technology scenarios at a Canadian community. The energy hubs present twenty Canadian buildings’ archetypes: sixteen single residential buildings, primary school, quick service restaurant, office, and supermarket. The hubs are interconnected by thermal and electricity grid and are sharing the locally generated energy to meet the demand loads. Three scenarios, each employing different energy technologies at hubs level were developed and investigated. The performance results were compared to a reference case. A complex optimization model was developed to minimize the energy consumption and environmental impact. The results showed that integrating different residential and commercial buildings with associated generation technologies in smart energy network allows energy sharing among them, enhancing overall efficiency and reducing energy and emissions costs. The study also showed that with this approach an electrical storage capacity of 25% of average electrical load had the lowest energy cost and environmental impact. In addition, it was found that integration of photovoltaic and electrical energy storage technologies would provide GHG savings up to 43% when compared to reference technologies.