Student Residences' Energy Community Operation Assessment in Democritus University of Thrace Polytechnic School

Through Greek Law 4513/2018 and Government Gazette Issue No. 3154/Β/31.07.2020 on Energy Communities, the integration process of energy communities in the existing energy market is accelerated. In this study, a first operation assessment of student residences’ thermal energy production system in the energy community of Polytechnic School of Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH) is presented. The energy community utilizes solar thermal collectors, heat exchangers, thermal energy storage tanks, a biomass boiler and an absorption chiller, in order to meet the energy demand of DUTH Polytechnic School students’ residencies. DUTh’s campus, consists of eight (8) residential buildings, one (1) restaurant and one (1) amphitheater. The operation of the thermal energy production system is assessed through comparative analysis between field measured data and simulation results undertaken in selected software.