ENERGY ANALYSIS OF THE PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATION ON THE SOLAR GREENHOUSES – CASE STUDY

Abstract

Today, renewable energy technologies are widely used in all areas where energy significant savings can be achieved. In recent years, there has been a growing use of photovoltaic technology in agriculture. This paper presents the energy analysis of the solar greenhouse with a photovoltaic (PV) system for electricity generation, located in the city of Kragujevac, Serbia. A greenhouse is designed with an Open Studio plug-in in the Google SketchUp environment, while EnergyPlus software was used for energy simulation. Results for different photovoltaic module efficiency and different orientation are presented in the paper. With the installation of a PV array of higher module efficiency, it is possible to achieve a significant energy saving in the solar greenhouse. Simulations were conducted for the optimal slope angle for Kragujevac. Results for CO2 emissions of PV array are calculated, and compared with the electricity usage. The investigation shows that the application of photovoltaic technology on greenhouse can reduce energy consumption and emission of CO2.