HiSim Building Sizer

The HiSim Building Sizer is a tool supporting the choice and sizing of technical equipment of a building. For example the best size for batteries can be chosen via the building sizer or investment decisions in electric vehicles or heat pumps can be supported. The decisions are based on heuristic optimization (evolutionary algorithms), which call upon simulations of the python package HiSim. HiSIM simulates total energy curves for selected building configurations and evaluates key performance indicators like self consumption rates or autarky rates based on them. All building parameters available in HiSim can be varied in the Building Sizer, e.g., photovoltaic system peak power, battery capacity, the consideration of electric vehicles and heat pumps or smart control of dish washers and washing machines. The building sizer (evolutionary algorithm) is controlled via iterations and alternates between boolean decision iterations, where the technologies considered in the building are optimized and discrete sizing iterations, where the best size of the related technologies is optimized. Scores of results of each iteration are plotted to monitor convergence and all information of all iterations are tracked. Within the evolutionary algorithm, the distributed job manager UTSP is utilized to calculate all HiSim simulations of a single generation in parallel.

About Us

We are the Institute of Energy and Climate Research - Techno-economic Systems Analysis (IEK-3) belonging to the Forschungszentrum Jülich. Our interdisciplinary department's research is focusing on energy-related process and systems analyses. Data searches and system simulations are used to determine energy and mass balances, as well as to evaluate performance, emissions and costs of energy systems. The results are used for performing comparative assessment studies between the various systems. Our current priorities include the development of energy strategies, in accordance with the German Federal Government’s greenhouse gas reduction targets, by designing new infrastructures for sustainable and secure energy supply chains and by conducting cost analysis studies for integrating new technologies into future energy market frameworks. We are owners of the repository and set up the framework of the evolutionary algorithm including the job manager UTSP.

4ward Energy Research GmbH contributes to the building sizer by the implementation of the core functions of the evolutionary algorithm and interfaces to HiSIM calls.

UDEUSTO supported the building sizer especially when it comes to the design of the optimization approach.

Acknowledgement

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 891943.