Optimal Sizing of PV-Battery Systems in Buildings Considering Carbon Pricing

Abstract

Carbon pricing instruments have been used to provide economic signals to greenhouse gas emitters and allow them to adjust or transform their business activities. The application of carbon pricing instruments to buildings has not received a lot of attention, despite buildings being big greenhouse gas emitters. This paper addresses this gap by investigating how carbon pricing can be used to encourage building owners to install photovoltaic (PV) and battery energy storage systems (BESS), which can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve this goal, we propose a new planning optimization model to select the most cost-effective electricity tariff and PV-battery solution, considering investment, operating, and environmental costs. Our experiments show that carbon pricing is an effective instrument to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings by incentivizing the adoption of BESS and PV systems.