Feasibility study of potential application of off-grid cold room with LTES for food preservation in remote areas of Africa

Latent Thermal Energy Storage (LTES) systems have demonstrated their effectiveness as a reliable solution for thermal management across various applications. The high energy density of these systems allows them to supply thermal energy for extended durations when integrated with intermittent energy production sources, such as photovoltaic panels. The primary objective of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of a system consisting of a 50 m 3 cold room maintained at 5 °C in Somalia for the purpose of food preservation, utilizing photovoltaic panels as the sole source of electrical energy. The numerical model has been developed in TRNSYS, concentrating on the dynamic integration of an air-cooled chiller with a novel model of a LTES utilizing ice as the Phase Change Material (PCM). The proposed system is a first approach for the goal to have a completely independent system from electrical grid for food preservation. The results indicate that the standalone installation of a 2.8 kWp photovoltaic system is capable of meeting 63 % of the cooling energy demand of the proposed crop preservation unit. Furthermore, by integrating a LTES system, with a capacity of 12 kWh (equivalent to 130 kg of ice), the grid independency can be achieved. This independence is obtained through a thermal storage system that is charged during daylight hours when the photovoltaic panels operate the refrigeration unit, and discharged during nighttime when there is no electrical production. • A 50 m 3 cold room can operate entirely off-grid by combining PV solar panels with icebased latent thermal energy storage • In Somalia, it's possible to save over €3600 and approximately 1.3 tons of CO₂eq annually. • These results pave the way for the decarbonization of the cols chain.