The Potential for Solar Heat in the Cape Food and Beverage Industry
Abstract
The food and beverage industry (F&BI) is one of the largest industries in the Western Cape and thus one of the largest energy consumers. Currently, process heat is mainly generated from coal, heavy fuel oil (HFO) and electricity. This paper investigates whether current solar water heating (SWH) technology can supplement conventional energy use within the Western Cape F&BI. With this aim, two separate areas were investigated, namely, the potential for such technology in terms of market size (or installed capacity) and the cost of implementing such technology. Based on the length of production periods at three food and beverage (F&B) facilities in the Western Cape, coupled with the low costs of fossil fuels, it was concluded that SWH systems are currently not financially viable. The paper therefore predicts at what price (of conventional energy, namely, coal and electricity) these technologies may become competitive. Data from three local F&B companies was employed to model the typical energy consumption profiles of companies in this industry. The program RETScreen was used to model three different types of SWH systems, whose output was then used in lifecycle cost analysis (LCA). The net present value of SWH systems was used as one criterion to judge the economic competitiveness of these technologies.