Performance and feasibility of utilizing solar powered ice storage system for space cooling applications

This paper addresses the potential of integrating a hybrid solar powered cooling system with ice storage for the purpose of space cooling in residential and office buildings. The proposed hybrid system was implemented on two case studies represented by one floor office building located in Abu Dhabi and four floor residential building located in Dubai with peak cooling loads of 70 kW and 366 kW, respectively. The solar powered system was investigated based on hourly solar radiation to fully capture the energy harvested from solar panels utilized to power the ice glycol chiller at different modes of operation. The annual power generated from the solar system was estimated using the monthly average solar radiations. The areas of PV panels installed on the roof of the office and residential buildings were 240 m² and 400 m², respectively. A feasibility study was conducted to assess the system’s performance from both economic and environmental perspectives. Based on the obtained results, it was found that the proposed system contributed to a significant amount of savings in the annual energy consumptions in the office building which was estimated to be 38 % less than the conventional cooling systems accompanied with 40 % reduction in CO₂ emissions. For the residential building, the annual energy consumption savings were estimated to be 140,160 kWh and resulted in a tangible reduction in CO₂ emissions of almost 154 ton/year. The feasibility study showed that the payback periods of the office building and residential building are about 8.8 years and 7.8 years, respectively.