Hybrid Solar Thermal Field (FPC-PTC) Applied for Solar Heating and Cooling Process in the Agroindustry Sector
Abstract
In the Agroindustry, as in the rests of productive sectors, the current need to reduce CO2 emissions and reaching sustainable growth justifies the necessity to integrate renewable energy sources. Greenhouses facilitate the improvement of the agricultural production process, but they also need an adequate energy supply to ensure the ideal ambient conditions for crop growth. The use of solar energy is a convenient solution due to its easy access in rural locations in many world areas. However, sizing the solar field for greenhouses, both in terms of area and technology, has the challenge of supplying the seasonal demand of thermal loads. The objective of this work is to evaluate the advantages of using a hybrid solar field with FPC-PTC in series integrated with an absorption chiller to provide the heating and cooling demand of a greenhouse of tomatoes in Almería, Spain. It was considered solar fields between 80 m2 to 540 m2. The results show that a hybrid configuration with 50% of PTC increases the energy contribution of the solar systems in the summer months and allows a solar fraction over 0.96 with a solar field area smaller than half of the greenhouse area. In comparison with the solar field with FPC, the hybrid configuration increased the solar fraction in summer months up to 32 percent.