Rolling Horizon Control of a Photovoltaic Shading Louver Considering Thermal State Inheritance and Occupancy Requirements

Xia, Fanxuan; Chen, Zhuo; Jiang, Chongxu; Wang, Ran; Pan, Yijun; Li, Zhiwei; Na, Yanling

doi:10.3390/buildings16173562

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Open AccessArticle

Rolling Horizon Control of a Photovoltaic Shading Louver Considering Thermal State Inheritance and Occupancy Requirements

by

Fanxuan Xia

^1,2,†,

Zhuo Chen

^3,4,†

,

Chongxu Jiang

²,

Ran Wang

²,

Yijun Pan

²,

Zhiwei Li

^5,*

and

Yanling Na

^2,*

¹

Key Laboratory of Coastal Urban Resilient Infrastructures (Ministry of Education), College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China

²

National Engineering Laboratory for Digital Construction and Evaluation of Urban Rail Transit, China Railway Design Corporation, Tianjin 300308, China

³

School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China

⁴

Key Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China

⁵

Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Buildings 2026, 16(17), 3562; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16173562

Submission received: 19 August 2026 / Revised: 3 September 2026 / Accepted: 5 September 2026 / Published: 7 September 2026

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coupled Heat and Mass Transfer for Healthy and Energy-Flexible Buildings)

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Abstract

Hourly angle optimization for photovoltaic (PV) shading is conducted by selecting values from independent fixed-angle simulations, although the selected hours do not share a consistent building thermal history. This study develops a database-based constant-action rolling horizon look-ahead heuristic that minimizes net electricity for a PV louver in a Beijing office while correcting thermal-history inconsistency. Nineteen angles from 0° to 90° were simulated to construct hourly thermal and PV maps. Schedules were generated for horizons of 1–48 h under a 10° h⁻¹ movement limit and evaluated by continuous EnergyPlus replay. The independently optimized sequence predicted −310.90 kWh of annual net energy, whereas continuous replay yielded −101.61 kWh, revealing a 209.29 kWh state-inheritance error dominated by HVAC electricity. The 12 h horizon minimized net energy at −119.11 kWh. A 24 h horizon incurred a 5.89 kWh penalty while reducing angle changes and total rotation by approximately 65%, indicating a favorable energy–movement compromise. Requiring an angle of at least 15° during occupancy eliminated full closure at a net-energy cost of 35.79 kWh. Continuous replay and operating constraints are therefore necessary when translating fixed-angle databases into implementable façade controls.

Keywords: dynamic façade; photovoltaic shading; building thermal inertia; rolling-horizon control; operational energy flexibility

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MDPI and ACS Style

Xia, F.; Chen, Z.; Jiang, C.; Wang, R.; Pan, Y.; Li, Z.; Na, Y. Rolling Horizon Control of a Photovoltaic Shading Louver Considering Thermal State Inheritance and Occupancy Requirements. Buildings 2026, 16, 3562. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16173562

AMA Style

Xia F, Chen Z, Jiang C, Wang R, Pan Y, Li Z, Na Y. Rolling Horizon Control of a Photovoltaic Shading Louver Considering Thermal State Inheritance and Occupancy Requirements. Buildings. 2026; 16(17):3562. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16173562

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xia, Fanxuan, Zhuo Chen, Chongxu Jiang, Ran Wang, Yijun Pan, Zhiwei Li, and Yanling Na. 2026. "Rolling Horizon Control of a Photovoltaic Shading Louver Considering Thermal State Inheritance and Occupancy Requirements" Buildings 16, no. 17: 3562. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16173562

APA Style

Xia, F., Chen, Z., Jiang, C., Wang, R., Pan, Y., Li, Z., & Na, Y. (2026). Rolling Horizon Control of a Photovoltaic Shading Louver Considering Thermal State Inheritance and Occupancy Requirements. Buildings, 16(17), 3562. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16173562

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Rolling Horizon Control of a Photovoltaic Shading Louver Considering Thermal State Inheritance and Occupancy Requirements

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