Solar technologies application in milk production

Abstract

The main directions of efficient, balanced market-based energy policy of Latvia are set out in the informative report “Long-Term Energy Strategy 2030 - Competitive Energy for the Society”, one of the main objectives of the strategy being to ensure a positive impact of the energy sector on the Latvian economy - sustainable energy, it means to reduce dependence on energy imports, to promote new, efficient technologies for the use of renewable energy and carrying out of energy efficiency improvement measures. It is fully in compliance with the operational strategy of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Latvia for 2017-2019 and related to the EU's progress towards the development of the bioeconomy as a crucial element in the challenges of today's global change. Resource depletion and increasing impact on the environment greatly increase the demand for food as well as competition for resources, including agricultural land. Regarding the development of sustainable agricultural development, it is necessary to prepare a platform for the development of bioeconomy, taking into account related policies and their objectives, integrating bioeconomic principles in order to ensure the production of high added value products, to promote scientific and business synergies and innovations in production, create well-paid jobs in rural areas, reducing dependence on fossil resources, sustainable use of renewable resources, by preserving of biodiversity and climate change mitigation. Rational energy efficiency increasing in agriculture is the main way to self-sufficiency. Nowadays, there is high potential of renewable energy source applications in different processes of the agriculture sector. Energy demand extrema in milk production is close to solar radiation extrema. This opens wide opportunities of solar technology application. Deep analysis shows that there exists a gap in solar radiation peak and electricity demand peak. It means that energy accumulation is needed for higher performance. The publication describes comparison of different solar energy accumulation type application in the milk production sector. Comparisons include pros and cons of electrical and thermal solar energy accumulation.