In this Master Thesis Project, the business case has been studied for solutions able to monitor the energy balance and maximise the electricity self-consumption of Dutch households, in preparation for the gradual phasing out of the net metering policy starting from 2023. In the initial market research, products investigated were batteries, home energy management systems and hybrid inverters. The selection of the best technologies to offer has been based on several parameters,
including the precision offered by the product in managing energy fluxes inside the house, the price, the maturity and system integration possibilities guaranteed by the solution, as well as the reliability of the company and its willingness to partner with Woon Duurzaam. In order to study the savings guaranteed by each solution, two client profiles have been created, that could represent the general pattern of Woon Duurzaam most common clients in terms of heating behaviour, use of appliances and electricity loads, and solar production. The first client profile is a family composed of 2 adults and 2 kids, while the second client profile is a couple composed of 2 retired seniors. Both profiles where studied considering a detached house. For each client profile, 12 configurations have been created
and simulated, changing the thermal performance of the house, the size of the PV system and battery, and considering or not the adoption of an electric vehicle. The hourly electricity consumption, production and storage has been simulated in MATLAB, and the hourly electricity bill has been calculated for 15 years in
four different cases: without implementing any smart storage or HEMS solution, with the use of a battery, with the use of a battery coupled with a HEMS, and with the implementation of a HEMS without battery. Savings and return of investment have been calculated for every case and every configuration, considering
three different electricity tariff regimes: flat, conservative peak and off-peak rates, and advanced time-ofuse tariff. For the most profitable solution, the payback time has been calculated, and a market proposition designed in order to guarantee profit for the company.
