Preliminary Operation Data of the Improved Pilot Plant “Isola del Giglio”

Abstract

The 45 kW pilot plant `Isola del Giglio' has been running since June 1985. The plant was built to evaluate technical and economical problems related to the use of photovoltaics for food refrigeration and water sterilization. In order to better meet local requirements, the PV plant has been modified and substantially improved. Technical activities were mainly aimed at making the cold storage system more reliable and cutting down the energy supply from the local grid. Since April 1990 the plant has been running in the new configuration: two independent cooling sections are automatically managed by dedicated control units and maintain the temperature of the 300 m3 refrigerator at the preselected value. Both thermal and electrochemical energy storage are available, for a total autonomy of about eleven days. The authors illustrate the improvements carried out and describe the new plant architecture and its operation logic. The most important results obtained so far are discussed.