Solar Thermal and Photovoltaics to supply Heating and Cooling Demand for a Microbrewery
Abstract
Two solar technologies are proposed to reduce the energy consumption of a microbrewery: an 8 m2 flat-plate collectors system and a 4.6 kWp on-grid photovoltaic system. The location selected is Santiago the Chile, where there is a yearly GHI of 1900 kWh/m2. The results are obtained by transient hourly simulations throughout the year employing TRNSYS. The system proposed yield to a 44.9% reduction in natural gas for heating and 34.6% of electricity for heating and cooling. The payback period for the solar thermal system is 6.9 years and for the photovoltaics system it is 7.4 years. A sensibility analysis is varying the location, area of ST collectors and PV modules is performed.