Study investigates Solar District Cooling Potential for Saudi Arabia

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Study investigates Solar District Cooling Potential for Saudi Arabia

By District Energy posted 11-19-2018 11:06

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Susan Kraemer, SolarPACES

Summary

Photo: Guiseppe Franchini and Antonio Perdichizzi

Instead of running air conditioners on fossil-fueled electricity, University of Bergamo researchers Guiseppe Franchini and Antonio Perdichizzi propose an alternative cooling technology; using a thermal form of solar energy to provide solar district cooling in the Saudi Kingdom.

Their study of the economics of solar district cooling was published at Energy Conversion and Management, in Performance prediction of a solar district cooling system in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – a case study.

“Our proposed solution is a solar district cooling system for new settlements in Saudi Arabia. This concept combines solar cooling and district cooling,” said Franchini.

The study has implications for the climate. With one of the world’s highest per capita energy consumption rates, cooling accounts for more than 70% of electricity use in Saudi Arabia’s year round hot climate. But the Kingdom still produces this electricity almost entirely using fossil fuels, despite its abundant solar resource.