Towards the implementation of Positive Energy Districts in industrial districts: an Italian case study

Owing to the opportunity to provide an annual positive energy balance and net-zero carbon emissions, Positive Energy Districts aim at fostering the energy transition of urban city centres. To fully support the decarbonization of cities, it may be interesting to extend their implementation to other energy intensive districts, such as cities’ industrial areas. In this regard, this paper addresses the opportunity to apply the Positive Energy District concept within the industrial area of a city in the South of Italy. A mixed-use building, the industrial wastewater treatment plant and an office building have been involved as users and equipped with a 250 kW wind turbine and multiple photovoltaic plants installed on the roof of the buildings, in parking areas and in an unused land, for a total peak power equal to 466 kW. The renewable-based plants’ generation has been simulated in HOMER Pro® software, on a quarter-hour basis, and an energy and environmental analysis have been performed using users’ real electric load profiles. The proposed configuration allows to save 55% of primary energy and carbon dioxide emissions compared to the baseline case where users’ electric energy demand is fully met by the power grid. In particular, the primary energy saving is equal to 1 GWh/y and the carbon dioxide emissions reduction is equal to 150 tCO2/y.