Performance of Zero Energy Homes in Smart Village Skarpnes

In Smart Village Skarpnes in southern Norway, five detached houses are designed as zero energy homes. This work reports on the photovoltaic (PV) power production and energy consumption behavior of these homes and discusses whether an annual zero energy budget may be achieved. Results so far indicate that the extremely low annual energy consumption assumed for these types of homes may be difficult to achieve, and also point at a need for better matching between production and consumption power profiles. Performance results are based on monitoring data combined with estimated performances from PVsyst simulations. The work is part of a larger research project that investigates how the introduction of low-energy buildings equipped with PV systems is expected to change the power flow to and from the grid, which will require new models for efficient operation and investment in the future electric distribution grid.