Abstract

Within the food industry breweries are intensive energy consumers. In order to reduce the energy cost of a microbrewery, the integration of a combination of two solar technologies is proposed. The brewing-process is presented, its energy demand profile is detailed, and a simulation model is developed accordingly. A heat recovery strategy is proposed. Furthermore, five different solar thermal systems (ST) and six photovoltaic systems (PV) are studied. The thermal performance of the ST systems is obtained in 1-hour timestep employing TRNSYS. Whereas for the PV systems System Advisor Model is utilized. In order to assess the economic benefits of each system the Net Present Value (NPV) and Discounted Payback Period (DPP) are calculated for all the alternatives. The 55 provinces in Chile are studied considering the local energy price and solar irradiation, and current electricity net-billing regulation. The NPV is positive for all the ST and PV systems, except for the largest ST system in one province where gas is subsidized. The DPP can be as low as 3.83 year for a solar thermal system that saves 40% of the annual thermal energy demand. For a PV system that covers 82% of the annual electricity consumption, a DPP of 5.2 years can be achieved in provinces with high solar irradiation and high electricity price from the grid. The favorable results obtained in this study show the potential benefits of solar energy integration in the small-scale industry with a batch process.