Thermax has designed and commissioned a first-of-a kind solar air conditioning system at the Solar Energy Centre in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. The 100 kW technology demonstration project was recently inaugurated by Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), in the presence of Shri Sushilkumar Shinde, Union Minister of Power.
In this innovative installation, for the first time in the world, Thermax has integrated a triple effect chiller and solar parabolic concentrators (collectors), both developed by the company. While conventional solar systems take up a large area for limited cooling output, the Thermax project through in-house R&D has achieved a significant space reduction of nearly 30% and a 20% increase in cooling efficiency. This has brought down cost and moved the project closer to commercialization.
Speaking about the national relevance of the project, partly funded by MNRE, M S Unnikrishnan, Managing Director & CEO of Thermax said, “A growing India will consume 35% of its entire electricity generated only for cooling and air conditioning. So it makes immense sense to use solar energy as a source for cooling, and reduce the use of fossil fuel.”
The solar cooling systems operating in various countries including India use low and medium temperature solar collectors with single or double effect absorption chillers that work on heat instead of electricity. The solar collectors in the Thermax system have been designed to harness sun’s energy in an effective manner to provide temperatures from 284°F to 410 °F. They are effectively integrated with a newly designed triple effect chiller. Offering the highest COP (coefficient of performance) in global markets today, the new chiller offers a technological breakthrough for solar applications.
This solar cooling solution can soon find applications across shopping malls, commercial complexes, office buildings, hospitals and industrial cooling requirements for project sizes ranging from 100 KW to 3000 KW. The fact that the availability of sun’s energy during day-time matches the cooling requirements of commercial establishments makes this application practical and promising. The project can lead the way in substantially reducing the load on the national power grid.
