Environmental constrained medium-term energy planning: The case study of an Italian university campus as a multi-carrier local energy community

The European Union defined the ambitious carbon-neutrality goal for 2050. Such a transition must be done gradually to avoid huge investments; therefore, medium-term energy planning of energy supply systems must be performed properly considering both economic and environmental aspects. Sector coupling measures aid to achieve this ambitious target, although they require a remarkable financial investment. This paper presents an innovative methodology for the medium-term energy planning of the university campus “Marche Polytechnic University” located in Italy towards the carbon neutrality, i.e., 50 % of carbon emissions reduction by considering financial investment aspects. The university campus is a multi-carrier local energy community with multiple technologies such as photovoltaic, combined heat and power, gas-fired boilers, absorption, and electric chillers that satisfy the end-users’ energy demand. A different mix of installed and new technologies (e.g., energy storage or hydrogen) are investigated through the Calliope framework. The case studies present the economic-based optimal scenario of a typical year planning, guaranteeing the same 50 % carbon emissions reduction. Results underline the importance of exploiting synergies among multiple carriers and the essential role of i) renewables (e.g., additional 3.3 MW of photovoltaic to be installed), ii) batteries with a capacity of 7 MWh, and (iii) sector coupling technologies.