Dynamic simulation of a solar electric driven heat pump for an office building located in Southern Italy

The paper investigates the introduction of a solar electric driven heat pump for an office building, placed in southern Italy, with low energy demand in comparison with the most common type of Italian buildings. Dynamic simulations to evaluate energy, environmental and economic performance of the proposed system, varying photovoltaic peak powers (4500 W - 7500 W), tilt angles (20° - 50°), electricity and natural gas unit prices, are carried out. To meet heating and cooling demand a heat pump driven by electricity available from solar photovoltaic panels is here considered. The system based on solar electric driven heat pump shows a saving in terms of primary energy and equivalent CO2 emission reduction up to about 81 % if compared to the reference conventional system based on a boiler fueled by natural gas and an electric-driven chiller. The results highlight that the solar based energy conversion system is more interesting when the electric energy and natural gas unit prices are high and government incentives are available.