A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF RESIDENTIAL APPLICATION OF INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE BASED COGENERATION IN SERBIAN CLIMATIC CONDITIONS WITH BUILDING SIMULATION PROGRAM

Abstract

In this paper, the energetic and economic performance assessment of the residential application of an IC engine-based cogeneration system in Serbian climatic conditions using building energy simulation software was performed. The performance of IC based system was compared with the performance of the two other conventional systems for DHW preparation: gas and electric water heater. Comparing the IC-based system with the gas water heater the period required to return investment costs of the IC engine is relatively high (11.7 years). The main barriers to the widespread residential application of IC engine cogeneration systems are related to the high capital costs and low prices of purchased or sold electricity. In this respect, investment cost reduction in small-scale cogeneration systems has to be achieved. About the current price in Serbia, the price of purchased and sold electricity (feed-in tariff) should be increased by 37.5% and 67.5%, respectively, to achieve the value of a payback period of five years. Comparing the IC-based system with an electric water heater the application of the IC engine is economically feasible since the payback period amounts to 3.42 years. According to the simulation results, the IC engine cogeneration system ensured a primary energy saving of 28.81%.