Novel Architectural and Technological Systems for Increasing Self-Sufficiency of Solar Homes: A Case Study of Perth, Western Australia

In Perth, single-story dwellings and solar radiation are abundant. This creates a unique potential to capture solar incidence on the roofs of buildings for energy generation. The majority of solar production occurs in the middle of the day when energy consumption is lowest, thus, a considerable amount of produced solar power is currently fed back to the grid. This thesis examines the advantages of solar production optimization, shifting solar production toward peak consumption and storing solar power by using novel hybrid storage systems to shed light on the necessity of improving the solar self-sufficiency of homes in remote-island grid networks.