Peak shaving strategy through a solar combined cooling and power system in remote hot climate areas

An effective combination of district cooling with electric power production in an integrated solar combined cycle is presented and evaluated. A remote area in hot climate is assumed as location to highlight the importance of peak shaving strategy in an isolated or weakly interconnected power system. Two solutions for handling peak power demand are taken into account in the present investigation. On the one hand, the integration of a Concentrated Solar Power system (CSP) with a combined cycle power plant is considered to match peak power demand on the grid. On the other hand, the adoption of a district cooling system where cooling energy is produced by absorption chillers is proposed, instead of mechanical refrigeration, to reduce and flatten the load profile.