Urban Solar Mobility: From Solar to Buildings, Vehicles, and Storage

The deployment of solar photovoltaics (PV) and electric vehicles (EV) is continuously increasing during urban energy transition. With the increasing deployment of energy storages, the development of the energy sharing concept, and the associated advanced controls, the conventional solar mobility model (i.e., S2V, solar-to-electric vehicles, using solar energy in a different location) and context are becoming less compatible and limited for the future scenario. For instance, energy sharing within a building cluster enables buildings to share the surplus PV power generations with other buildings of insufficient PV power generations, thereby improving the overall PV power utilization and reducing the grid power dependence. But, such energy sharing techniques are not considered in the conventional solar mobility models, which limits the potentials in performance improvements. Therefore, this chapter conducts a systematic review of the solar mobility-related studies as well as the newly developed energy concepts and techniques. Based on the reviews, this chapter extends the conventional solar mobility scope from S2V to S2BVS (i.e., solar-to-buildings, vehicles, and storage). The detailed modeling of each sub-system in the S2BVS model and related advanced controls is presented, and the research gaps that need future investigation for promoting solar mobility are identified. The aim is to provide an up-to-date review of the existing studies related to solar mobility to decision-makers, so as to help enhance the solar power utilization, reduce the buildings’ and EV’s dependence and impacts on the power grid as well as reduce the carbon emission.