Operation assessment of a hybrid solar-biomass energy system with absorption refrigeration scenarios

ABSTRACT

Refrigeration systems claim increasing research attention as the climate crisis intensifies. One of the most well-established viable and feasible solutions is solar cooling, as the necessary cooling energy is produced by exploiting the available solar irradiance. The utilization of solar thermal energy to produce cooling energy by absorption chillers fed by a driving heat source (such as solar energy) to produce cooling power. Existing works in the literature present mainly case studies and simulations for small-scale systems (less than 50 kW_c). The case study presented investigates the performance of a single-effect 316 kW_c absorption chiller under different renewable-only driving heat source scenarios (solar-driven, biomass-driven, and a hybrid approach). The results indicate a significantly advantageous performance in combined heat generation (solar field and biomass boiler connected in series) compared to the scenarios of biomass or solar energy as a sole heat source. Moreover, an absorption chiller’s economic indicators appear more fetching than a centrifugal electric chiller of the same capacity, as the payback period is significantly reduced. The Net Present Value (N.P.V. – over 75% greater in the case of absorption chiller compared to the centrifugal electrical chiller) and Return on Investment (R.O.I.) values are increased in the case of the absorption chiller option (18.03% against 15.24% of the centrifugal electrical chiller). The system described in this paper operates in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece, and is part of one of the largest self-sufficient energy communities. The case study presented is the first attempt at performance evaluation of a large-scale (more than 250 kW_c) cooling system operating in a local energy community.

KEYWORDS:

• Absorption chiller
• solar thermal energy
• solar cooling
• thermal energy storage
• energy system simulation

Nomenclature

Table

Author contributions

A.G. Papatsounis: Conceptualization, writing, calculations and simulations, proof-reading and corrections. P.N. Botsaris: conceptualization, calculations, proof-reading, reviewing and corrections. K. Lymperopoulos: calculations, proof-reading. R. Rotas: conceptualization, writing, calculations and simulations, proof-reading and corrections. Z. Kanelia: simulations, proof-reading, reviewing. P. Iliadis: simulations, proof-reading, reviewing. N. Nikolopoulos: proof-reading, reviewing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the European project Renaissance (Renewable Integration & Sustainability in Energy Communities, HORIZON 2020, GA 824342).