Solar Thermal Modeling with the EnergyPlus Calculation Engine (2004)
This document was created by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) which is operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. It provides information on the EnergyPlus analysis software program.
The EnergyPlus software is intended to provide energy simulations of whole buildings, and determine their level of energy efficiency. Earlier versions of the program were based on the Heat Balance Model, and measured standard indicators of energy usage such as building envelopes and HVAC systems.
The newly updated version of EnergyPlus now includes components to simulate and measure photovoltaic and solar-thermal hot-water systems. This upgrade was made due to the increasing prevalence of solar systems in low and zero energy buildings.
Further addition of different photovoltaic and solar-thermal elements into the EnergyPlus software is in development for the near future.
