Integration of an Organic Rankine Cycle and a Photovoltaic Unit for Micro-Scale CHP Applications in the Residential Sector

This work demonstrates the potential for integrating biomass and solar energy resources: during daylight, solar radiation is significant and the ORC system can be switched off or operated at partial load. Furthermore, the adoption of biomass makes it possible to overcome the intermittency of solar resource, increase the self-consumed electrical energy, and produce thermal energy, thereby saving natural gas for heating purposes.