Chapter 15 Smarthoods: Aquaponics Integrated Microgrids
15.7 Conclusions
The goal of this research was to quantify the degree of flexibility and self-sufficiency that an aquaponics integrated microgrid can provide. In order to attain this answer, a neighbourhood of 50 households was assumed a ‘Smarthood’, with a decoupled multi-loop aquaponics facility present that is capable of providing fish and vegetables for all the 100 inhabitants of the Smarthood. The results are promising: thanks to the high degree of flexibility inherent in the aquaponic system as a result of high thermal mass, flexible pumps and adaptive lighting, the overall degree of self-sufficiency is 95.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems15.6 Discussion
Self-Sufficiency The energy system proposed for the Smarthood concept is capable of achieving near full grid-independence through the use of the flexibility provided by the various system components. The aquaponic system, especially, has a positive Table 15.4 Flexible demand of the aquaponic system table thead tr class=“header” th Component /th th Order of magnitude /th th Flexibility /th /tr /thead tbody tr class=“odd” td rowspan=3 Pumps /td td 0.05–0.15 kWsube/sub Msup3/sup /td td rowspan=3 Not all pumps have to run continuously.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems15.5 Results
The total electrical and thermal consumption of both the houses and the aquaponic greenhouse facility (modelled from the data in Tables 15.1 and 15.2) is shown in Table 15.3. The aquaponic greenhouse facility is responsible for 38.3% of power consumption and 51.4% of heat consumption. The power demand for an aquaponics facility integrated in a residential microgrid is therefore slightly over one-third of the total local energy demand, given that all of the residential energy and vegetable/fish production is done locally.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems15.4 Method
A neighbourhood of 50 households was assumed a ‘Smarthood’, with a decoupled multi-loop aquaponics facility present that is capable of providing fish and vegetables for all the 100 inhabitants of the Smarthood. For the detailed modelling of the Smarthood, a hypothetical reference case of a suburban neighbourhood in Amsterdam was used, consisting of 50 households (houses) with an average household occupancy of 2 persons per household (100 persons total). In addition, one urban aquaponic facility consists of a greenhouse, aquaculture system, a UASB and a distillation unit.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems15.3 Goal
The goal of this research is to quantify the degree of self-sufficiency and flexibility for a microgrid integrated with a decoupled multi-loop aquaponics system.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems15.2 The Smarthoods Concept
To unlock the full potential of the Food—Water—Energy nexus with respect to decentralised microgrids, a fully integrated approach focuses not only on energy (microgrid) and food (aquaponics) but also on utilising the local water cycle. The integration of various water systems (such as rainwater collection, storage and wastewater treatment) within aquaponic-integrated microgrids yields the biggest potential for efficiency, resilience and circularity. The concept of a fully integrated and decentralised Food—Water—Energy microgrid will from now on be referred to as a Smarthood (smart neighbourhood) and is depicted in Fig.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems15.1 Introduction
Switching towards a fully sustainable energy system will partly require switching from a centralised generation and distribution system, towards a decentralised system, due to the rise of decentralised energy generation technologies using wind and rooftop solar radiation. In addition, integrating the heat and transport sectors into the electricity system will lead to a very significant increase in peak demand. These developments require massive and costly adaptations to the energy infrastructure, while the utilisation of existing production assets is expected to drop from 55% to 35% by 2035 (Strbac et al.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems