Energy consumption evaluation of air cooled chiller with cold storage system powered by photovoltaic modules

Abstract

Renewable energy becomes an appealing technology used in many applications in our life. Environmentally, it reduces CO2 emissions and enhances the sustainability of the system. This paper study the benefits of using a photovoltaic system with a thermal storage tank to power air-cooled chiller, in two different scenarios. The simulation methodology is adopted in this research to study the various scenarios of the combination of the utility, photovoltaic system, thermal storage tank, and air-cooled chiller. The scenarios are based on TRNSYS simulation software. The two scenarios investigated in this study include supplying an air-cooled chiller using a photovoltaic system integrated with the grid. While the second one is to study the photovoltaic system integrated with the grid as well as a thermal storage tank. It was found that the reduction of the consumed energy in the first scenario reduced by 81%. Also, CO2 emissions reduced by 72%. In addition, the payback period equalled nine years and generated $4,350 in total profit along the project life cycle. The second scenario saves 75.6% of the utility energy consumption and decreases CO2 emissions by 68%. Moreover, the payback period becomes 12.4 years with $3,202 in total profit generated.