Industrial food chamber cooling and power system integrated with renewable energy as an example of power grid sustainability improvement

Abstract

To meet the demands of a more resource-efficient future, innovative solutions are needed to generate sustainable energy conversion technologies and processes. Renewable energies offer a potent and viable solution to counter the effects of this problem since they are inexhaustible, pollution-free and affordable energy resources. This work compares different food chamber's cooling and power systems (FCP). The main purpose is to find a more favorable, design for South Spain from energy management and environmental perspective. The further comparison versus the conventional FCP system is made between the two possible technologies. Hence we investigate here the solar-assisted FCP system working with thermal energy in latent “phase change materials” (PCM) or sensible heat storage. We will provide new, advanced eco-design solutions using PCMs to store cold in industrial food chambers - those characterized by intense cooling demand. The energy performance of both compared systems has been assessed considering as a benchmark the energy infrastructure operating today in the Solar Energy Research Center (CIESOL). The results of the comparison demonstrated that only the solar-assisted PCM-based FCP system presents flexibility potential to handle its generation and demand according to local climate conditions, grid requirements and final refrigeration load.