The cost of increasing prosumer self-sufficiency

In this study, an investigation was made into the economic effects of the integration of residential-scale energy devices. The detailed calculations were performed using an experimentally validated model of a natural gas-fueled micro-cogenerator (micro-CHP) along with data from long-term measurements of a photovoltaic (PV) system. The model of the prosumer system was enriched by integrated electrical energy storage (EES) allowing the generated energy to be temporarily buffered. Various configurations of the integrated prosumer system were analyzed in terms of self-coverage of the energy demand, achieving a level of self-sufficiency from 28% to 98%, depending on the configuration. The economic effectiveness of the proposed solutions was discussed. The structure of the initial expenditure necessary to increase the financial viability of systems so that they are favorable for sustainable energy generation, and the potential changes in electricity prices, were determined and analyzed. For the initial economic assumptions used here, the decrease in micro-CHP investment expenditure was 4% for a system with integrated EES, 19% for one with a PV application and 15% for an integrated prosumer system (micro-CHP + PV + EES).