off-grid renewable solutions for rural buildings in inner areas

Energy sovereignty is the right of people to have access to energy and to make their own decisions over sustainable energy sources and sustainable consumption patterns. This concept is of particular interest for inner areas, protagonists of a specific integrated development strategy inside the partnership Agreement Europe-Italy 2014-2020. In the case of renewable not programmable energy sources, the challenge for energy autonomy is to identify the optimal storage systems that can bring the profiles of energy supply close to those of energy demand. In fact, the energy production from renewable sources is characterized by a strong variability at hourly, daily and seasonal levels, while energy demand profiles of isolated buildings differ greatly depending on the function of the building. The objective of this work is to assess the feasibility and strategic importance of total off grid systems for individual housing units. For this purpose, it was compared the operation of a photovoltaic system installed on-grid in a rural house, with two alternative scenarios of energy storage (lithium ion and lead acid batteries). The comparative parameters chosen for the two storage systems are depth of discharge, energy and power density, energy efficiency and life cycle. The results demonstrate the feasibility and strategic importance of total off grid systems for individual housing units. These systems should be designed in integrated terms within the territory in order to realize small-scale-smart-grids