Towards a Near-Zero Energy Building using a Building-Integrated Photovoltaic System with Smart Energy Management Capabilities

Renewable energy resources, despite their advantages, it is uncertain due to the fluctuations in the weather. Clouds, dust, rain, and heat will negatively affect photovoltaic panels’ production, which leads to the problem of power supply interruption and a decline in reliability. For that, it is required a standalone photovoltaic system with a smart energy management strategy. On the other hand, the load’s reactive power decreased the system’s efficiency and caused an overcurrent fault. So, it requires the adopt a mechanism to correct the power factor to enhance efficiency. The proposed system adopted two strategies: the first adopt an energy consumption management that determines the schedule’s consumption loads. This strategy includes the predicted supplied power for the current day and two days ahead according to the available energy based on the forecast of solar radiation and the batteries’ energy to update and correct the expected values. Moreover, three operating modes are presented according to the battery state of charge (SoC). The second strategy is adopting an automatic power factor correction (APFC) unit. A capacitor bank is used, where the system adds one or more capacitors to enhance the power factor. The proposed system also offers an Internet of Things (IoT) technology to communicate between system components and implement remote monitoring and control. The simulation results showed an integrated system capable of saving energy and relying on a limited renewable energy source. Such a promised system will lead to near-zero energy buildings (NZEB) without affecting life quality.