Electricity consumption assessment and PV system integration in grid-connected office buildings

Load profile analysis is a crucial aspect in the economic management of office buildings, especially if the usage and the cost of energy are very high. The identification of underperformance in a huge number of office buildings requires large amounts of money, personnel and information, which often are unavailable. This paper describes a method for the electricity consumption assessment in office buildings being part of a large real estate. The goal is to identify, by studying the total building consumption and the hourly electrical load patterns, cases with abnormal consumption requiring further energy analysis. Due to European energy regulations, the analysis includes the addition of photovoltaic (PV) systems, for reducing the electricity cost and the dependency on external sources. The PV production matches very well the time evolution of the load, especially for summer cooling. A careful installation of PV systems, aimed at self-consuming all or most of the onsite-produced energy, represents a solution to reduce the electricity from the utility grid. Moreover, the reduction in electric power injection into the grid is useful for the operator of distribution grid.