Coordinated economic and low-carbon operation strategy for a multi-energy greenhouse incorporating carbon capture and emissions trading

Greenhouses need to supply CO2 to crops while simultaneously emitting CO2. To effectively harness the dual functionality of greenhouses as a carbon source and carbon consumer, this work incorporates carbon capture and emissions trading into a multi-energy greenhouse (MEG), which is equipped with various power and heat sources such as photovoltaic (PV) panels and a combined heat and power (CHP) unit and proposes that the captured CO2 should be used to feed crops on-site. A low-carbon economic operation method is proposed for the coordinated environment-energy-carbon management of the MEG, and it considers various factors, including the power purchase/carbon supply costs, carbon emissions trading income, temperature/humidity/light intensity and CO2 concentration requirements for crops, and operational constraints of various energy/environmental regulation equipment. The proposed method is validated using a tomato MEG. The results highlight the significant economic and environmental benefits of introducing carbon capture, emissions trading, and utilisation into MEGs. © 2024 The Author(s). Energy Conversion and Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Institution of Engineering and Technology and the State Grid Economic & Technological Research Institute Co., Ltd.