Application of Concentrating Solar Technologies in the Dairy Sector for the Combined Production of Heat and Power

The use of concentrating solar technologies for supplying the heat and power demand of a typical dairy factory is investigated in this paper. A yearly-based performance analysis is carried out considering different values of solar field collecting area and thermal energy storage capacity with reference to a typical meteorological data set of a Sardinian location. Specific simulation models are developed for each section of the plant. Moreover, a novel energy management strategy is developed for the determination of the priority order between thermal and electrical demand. The results demonstrate that concentrating solar technologies could be a promising option if power and heat are both required. In particular, the presence of the energy storage section provides important flexibility features to the plant and by suitably setting the control variable, the energy management strategy allows to give priority to the heat or to the electrical demand of the dairy.