Minimizing the Energy Imports in Sports Complexes by Implementing the Microgrid Concept

Sports centers compose a special case of large-scale buildings which need significant amounts of energy. This is related not only to the specific requirements of the thermal environment regarding the type of activities taking place as well to the considerable high load demands enforced by the presence of people. This paper evaluates the energy consumption of the Olympic Athletic Center of Athens (OAKA), extracts energy baselines as a reference for the following studies and proposes a new strategy to improve and optimize its energy system operation. In particular, the concept of a microgrid is introduced in the grid of OAKA, where load demand is exclusively served by energy imports from the external local grid. Therefore, the highest possible autonomous operation of the internal grid is examined, minimizing the imports from the city’s grid. To achieve this, the maximum possible installation of PV combined with battery storage units is examined, using as backup units the existing gensets of the facilities.