Energy integration of CO2 networks and power to gas for emerging energy autonomous cities in Europe

The concept of urban CO2 networks has been developed to deploy heat pump based district heating and cooling systems in dense urban areas. The use of the CO2 phase change reduces the cost of the heat distribution while allowing to recover waste heat that is typically rejected to the environment. The use of heat pumps to harvest heat from the environment and to supply heat to buildings allows one to propose district systems with COP as high as 6. Heat pumps can use the electricity produced by photovoltaics already providing up to 60% of the total consumption. This paper studies the integration of fuel cell based power to gas for the seasonal storage of the excess electricity produced in the summer by PV panels. The methane stored in liquid form is used in the winter to balance the electrical needs by fuel cell based co-generation, making therefore the city 100% supplied by renewable energy. The present work evaluates the integration of CO2 district energy network including power to gas systems on a compact urban block considering heating, cooling, electricity, e-mobility and waste management for different European climatic zones. In order to reach fully autonomous blocks using solar PV and municipal and industrial waste heat, a PV area of 10-35 m2/cap would be needed. The rooftop area available appears to be sufficient in areas like Southern Europe, while more area or alternative renewable sources such as wind or hydro are needed for other climatic zones. Regarding the economic feasibility of the system, the results show that an investment of 900-1300 €/cap would be needed, with a payback time between 11 and 14 years, depending on the different climate zones in Europe.