Solar cooling systems
The growing trend towards installing air-conditioning in buildings places significant pressure on the electricity grid. Solar cooling is a thermally driven cooling process which can help to reduce peak electricity demand caused by air-conditioning or refrigeration needs.
Solar cooling applications
Currently, there are more than one hundred solar cooling systems installed in Europe.
Typical applications can include commercial buildings, such as office buildings and hotels, and food storage including dairy farms.
How solar cooling works
The heat source for the thermally driven cooling process can be provided by solar thermal collectors already commonly used in domestic solar hot water systems.
For more information on solar hot water systems, take a look at the ResourceSmart Sustainable Building Ideas fact sheets.
Solar cooling systems are either closed cycle systems or open cycle systems.
Closed cycle systems produce chilled water which can supply any type of air-conditioning equipment (e.g. air handling units, fan-coils, chilled ceilings).
Open cycle systems, also known as desiccant systems, are a combination of sorptive dehumidification and evaporative cooling to provide fresh air at a comfortable temperature and humidity.
For more technical information visit the website of the Australian Solar Cooling Interest Group (ausSCIG).
Support for solar cooling
Sustainability Victoria is supporting solar cooling by:
- working collaboratively with CSIRO and The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi, India on a project to design and develop renewable cooling and power generation systems. The project outcomes will be small scale solar-cooling system prototypes
- using its facilitation expertise and solar heating industry knowledge to analyse barriers to consumer uptake of solar technology in Australia and ensure successful interchange between the Australian and Indian partners
- investigating opportunities for applications of solar cooling on dairy and fruit farms in Victoria
- supporting Echuca Regional Health in a project to install solar assisted cooling.
Case study for solar cooling
Echuca in northern Victoria has an excellent solar resource and the solar systems at Echuca Regional Health delivers cooling when it is most needed - on sunny days. As a result the hospital saves money on energy and also on its peak demand for electricity. Annual savings are expected to be about $60,000 per year with greenhouse gas abatement of 1,400 tonnes CO2 eq.
The project also saves investment costs in upgrading the hospitals electricity grid which was under stress due to increased electricity demand caused by rising air-conditioning needs. Savings will increase as energy prices rise. Please read the below case study for further information.
Top | Last updated 11/11/2011