  Urban areas consist of a mix of households and services, such as offices,
shops, schools, etc. Yet most urban energy models only consider household load
profiles, omitting the service sector. Realistic assessment of the potential
for renewable resource integration in cities requires models that include
detailed demand and generation profiles. Detailed generation profiles are
available for many resources. Detailed demand profiles, however, are currently
only available for households and not for the service sector. This paper
addresses this gap. The paper (1) proposes a novel approach to devise synthetic
service sector demand profiles based on a combination of a large number of
different data sources, and (2) uses these profiles to study the impact of the
service sector on the potential for renewable resource integration in urban
energy systems, using the Netherlands as a case study. The importance of the
service sector is addressed in a broad range of solar and wind generation
scenarios, and in specific time and weather conditions (in a single scenario).
Results show that including the service sector leads to statistically
significantly better estimations of the potential of renewable resource
integration in urban areas. In specific time and weather conditions, including
the service sector results in estimations that are up to 33% higher than if
only households are considered. The results can be used by researchers to
improve urban energy systems models, and by decision-makers and practitioners
for grid planning, operation and management}.
