Building projects may incorporate other on-site electricity generation equipment, such as cogeneration plants or fuel cells that make electricity and produce heat. Projects may also include wind turbines. These systems may be modeled in various ways and the building descriptors described below should be considered an example of one set. In all cases, the baseline building will be modeled without on-site generation equipment. If there is no thermal link between the power generation equipment and building equipment (such as heat recovery from CHP), on-site power generation can be modeled in a separate process, otherwise, it needs to be linked to the building simulation.
Building projects may incorporate on-site electricity generation equipment, such as photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines or combined heat and power or fuel cells that make electricity and produce heat. These systems may be modeled in various ways. Descriptors have been added below for PV, combined heat and power cogeneration and wind turbines. Fuel cells are not addressed by this manual currently. In all cases, the baseline building will be modeled without heat recovery from on-site generation equipment. If there is no thermal link between the power generation equipment and building equipment (such as heat recovery from combined heat and power [CHP]), on-site power generation can be modeled in a separate process; otherwise, it needs to be linked to the building simulation.
On-site renewable energy shall be subtracted from the proposed design energy consumption prior to calculating the proposed building performance, additional details are provided in Section 1.3. On-site renewable energy generated by systems included on the building permit that is used by the building is considered free and shall not be included in the proposed design energy cost for renewable energy contributions up to 5% of the baseline building performance. When renewable energy contribution of the on-site renewable energy generation system exceeds 5% of the BBP, the PCI will be calculated as explain in Section 1.3 of this manual.