This paper presents a real smart polygeneration grid, designed to satisfy energy demands of the University Campus of Savona (Italy). The plant is made up by different kind of generators: conventional boilers, CHP unit, electrical and thermal storage and renewable generators. The analysis of this smart-grid is performed exploiting a software developed by the Author’s research group, which allows for the thermo-economic optimization of polygenerative energy systems. A model of the real plant was built and it was implemented in the software. The off-design curves of the real devices installed in the campus were used in order to increase the reliability of the simulation results. The grid was simulated considering the time dependent nature of the demands throughout the whole year. The model was used to simulate the smart grid behavior during the whole year, and find the best operational strategy. Moreover a strong attention is given to future solution to the Smart grid Layout in order to reduce purchasing electricity from National grid in summer months, when, as the thermal request decreases, the CHP units are not exploited. Two possible implementations are analyzed coupling CHP units with absorption chillers or ORC turbine, comparing their techno-economic performances.
