Case Studies in Thermal Engineering (Aug 2024)
Design an energy storage system for a 1 MW photovoltaic powerplant based on compressed-gas-refrigeration for buildings cooling and ice production
Abstract
An energy storage system was designed for a 1 (MW) photovoltaic solar power plant. This power plant is located in a university campus in the hot desert region, which requires continuous cooling of its buildings consists of a large number of classrooms. Due to the desert nature of the region, it was not possible to use conventional energy storage systems based on pumped-hydro; because in considered climate, it is not possible to provide a large volume of water and compensate for the evaporated water. Therefore, an energy storage system based on compressed gas refrigeration was used. The effect of system parameters including the maximum pressure on its performance including COP, total space can be cooled, ice making capacity and also the required volume for high-pressure vessel was studied. The effect of using different gases including air, nitrogen, ammonia, carbon dioxide and argon as the working fluid was studied. Also, the effect of the mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide and different molar percentages of them on the performance of the system was studied. The results showed that the designed energy storage system can well supply the cooling load of the university building where the solar power plant is located.
