Photovoltaic Self-Consumption in Industrial Cooling and Refrigeration

Abstract

The industrial sector has a great opportunity to reduce its energy costs through distributed generation. In this sense, the potential of photovoltaic self-consumption systems in the industrial cooling and refrigeration sector is shown. Two industries with photovoltaic self-consumption installations are shown and the electricity consumption profile of this type of industry which has a remarkable basal electricity consumption during daytime is analyzed. The matching between consumption and photovoltaic generation profiles is provided through the self-consumption and self-sufficiency curves considering different reporting periods (monthly and annual). Moreover, a new index is presented: self-sufficiency index for sunshine hours, φSS,SH. This index evaluates the performance of the photovoltaic self-consumption system when facing the consumption only during sunshine hours. This index may complement the self-sufficiency index and may improve the analysis of this type of systems in the industrial sector. Self-consumption indices of 90% may be provided. Moreover, self-sufficiency indices for total (24 h) and for sunshine hours of 25% and 50%, respectively, for industry A, and 26% and 45% for industry B have been obtained. During daytime, half the load consumption in this type of industry may be covered by photovoltaics while achieving high levels of use of the photovoltaic energy generated.