Comparison of Two Solar PV-Driven Air Conditioning Systems with Different Tracking Modes

Abstract

In this paper two solar electric-driven air conditioning systems are compared and analyzed from an energy and environmental point of view. Both systems satisfy the electricity, space heating and cooling needs of an existing multi-purpose, multi-story building that is simulated with TRNSYS 17. The first one, considered as reference system, is based on a centralized electric heat pump coupled with a conventional photovoltaic plant installed 10 years ago. The second one, hereinafter proposed system, has a hybrid configuration, consisting of a ground-source heat pump, a low temperature thermal network and a series of electric heat pumps, one per apartment. In addition, the plant is connected to a high-performance commercial photovoltaic system equipped with a solar tracking system to the panels. Five different solutions realized with vertical, two horizontal orientations, polar and two-axis trackers are taken into account and compared with the standard fixed configuration. The last hybrid configuration can be seen as an upgrade of an existing decentralized air conditioning system in which the local electric heat pumps are converted in water-to-water devices that interact with the thermal grid representing the heat source/sink for them. In both solar electric heating and cooling plants the photovoltaic system is installed on the building roof and it produces electricity to feed the heat pumps and end-users. The electricity surplus or the load not covered by solar field is fed to/taken from power grid. The energy and environmental analyses have been performed by considering both average annual and monthly values of power grid efficiency and CO2 emission factor for electricity. By comparing reference system and proposed one equipped with a two-axis tracker system a primary fossil energy saving of 101.67% is achieved in summer period and 28.10% in winter period. These percentages are the highest values recorded, even if, for all configurations the energy analysis rewards the proposed system. The results of environmental analysis demonstrate that the reference system has the worst performances compared to proposed system with all solar tracker systems selected guarantying positive values for avoided carbon dioxide index up to 45.86%.

Model to Predict Quality of Photovoltaic Panels Considering Customers’ Expectations

“…It is about 5% demand. It resulted, for example, from regulations and funding on the implementation of photovoltaic panels, which is more favourable than in other renewable energy sources [17]. In perspective to 2040, it is predicted that the energy from PV will deliver approximately 7208 TWh (where to 2030 it will be near 3518 TWh).…”

Techno-Economic Performance Analysis of a 40.1 kWp Grid-Connected Photovoltaic (GCPV) System after Eight Years of Energy Generation: A Case Study for Tochigi, Japan

“…However, STC does not give any information about the actual performance of a particular PV system in real life and under actual weather conditions [9]. To better evaluate the actual performance of the GCPV system, the impact of different parameters such as temperature, shading [10], solar irradiance [11], dust [12], solar tracking system [13], inverter efficiency [14], and panel material [15] have been investigated. In the study [16], the influence of different PV cell spacings on the performance of the photovoltaic system was identified.…”