Overview of Solar Photovoltaic Applications for District Heating and Cooling

With the prevalent energy crisis and climate changes, decarbonising energy sector has become the need of the hour. An environmentally friendly way is the utilisation of solar energy which mainly involves the deployment of photovoltaic (PV) and/or solar thermal technology. Unlike electricity generation, the application of photovoltaics for the district heating & cooling (DHC) is relatively new. Also, this energy route is yet to be fully explored. This paper aims to provide an overview of the photovoltaic applications in the context of DHC sector. At first, the utilisation of solar energy in the DHC sector is briefly described and then the review of the available literature is carried out. It was understood that PV integration in the district heating and/or district cooling system can take place in different topologies such as PV technology, energy storage, and system configuration (centralized/distributed). On one side, this technology options support design flexibility based on local scenarios (i.e., climatic conditions, building types, energy cost). On the other side, selecting the best configuration remains a challenging task for design and planning engineers. The research database on the studied topic needs to be enhanced, with a focus on PV’s role in district cooling (DC). It is deduced that right technical and economic boundary conditions in the chosen region is important for the accelerated photovoltaic integration. Also, lower environmental impact throughout the whole life cycle of solar PV integrated DHC system is reported. PV assisted DC systems have the potential to revolutionize cooling sector, especially in the places where daytime electricity costs are high. Based on the SWOT analysis, it is concluded that there is an enormous opportunity for PV integration in the DHC sector with the upgradations in DH networks, developing DC networks and rising adoption of HPs. This overview is expected to be beneficial to researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders of district energy sector.