Assessment of the Technological Sustainability of the Tri-Generation Model in the Era of Climate Change: A Case Study of Terminal Complexes

Abstract

In this study, the operating conditions of the tri-generation model in actual field situations for terminal complex buildings were investigated. The operational characteristics of the installed tri-generation system (TGS), and performance in terms of relative primary energy savings (RPES), were evaluated to confirm its market competitiveness against separate heat and power (SHP). As a result of the analysis, the technological superiority of the TGS model compared to the SHP method was much lower than theoretical expectation, which was 17.9% in the best case and close to 0 in the worst case. The importance of the TGS’s operational strategy to achieve annual operational economics was emphasized based on the analysis of the TGS’s actual daily operational data. The sustainability of the TGS model in the era of climate change was also evaluated through RPES sensitivity analysis according to the level of renewable power generation in the power sector, which is rapidly increasing in response to climate change.

Keywords

• tri-generation
• sustainability
• terminal complex building
• relative primary energy savings
• climate change