José M. Cardemil

Meteorological assessment and implementation of an air-side free-cooling system for data centers in Chile

Data center energy consumption in Latin America has increased considerably during last years. According to Datacenter dynamics, energy requirements during 2016 were expected to be around 3.85 GW. In Chile, the data center industry grew 14% between 2009 and 2010, whereas energy consumption increased 21.4% between 2012 and 2013. For this reason, many data centers in the country have started to evaluate efficient alternatives to reduce energy consumption such as the use of air containment techniques, air-side and water-side cooling systems. To date, existing free-cooling maps do not provide information about available hours during the year for implementing either air-side or water-side cooling systems in data centers in South America. This paper presents a thermo-dynamic analysis aimed to evaluate the potential use of air-side free-cooling systems in the Chilean data center industry. First, temperature and Relative Humidity (RH) variations, during three years, were obtained at 29 different stations throughout the entire country. The objective was to identify regions in Chile that meet data center thermal requirements proposed by the ASHRAE. Fiber-optic availability was also considered during the analysis. The thermodynamic model considered a white room with a thermal load of 20 kW, for which an air treatment unit was incorporated with the objective of providing cold air at 18° and 60% RH. An air treatment system was calculated at three different locations in Chile. These locations were selected since they offer high availability of fiber-optic connections (Chacalluta, Arica y Parinacota Region), strategic position for companies (Quinta Normal, Metropolitan Region), and low temperatures through the year (Carlos Ibanez, Aysen Region). Preliminary results have demonstrated that Chile is a relatively humid country. For this reason, cooling air must be dehumidified most of the time. The results also showed that even when low temperatures can be found in Carlos Ibanez, both Chacalluta and Quinta Normal offer excellent possibilities for the data centers industry. These two last locations offer more fiber-optic connections and temperature variations that lay within the range established by the ASHRAE.

Thermal performance assessment of a large aperture concentrating collector in an industrial application in Chile

The application of solar thermal energy to meet the heat demands of the food and beverage processing industry in Chile has huge potential. This paper presents an assessment of the first large aperture trough collector installed in Latin America. The collector preheats water for a boiler in a juice-concentrating factory, 100 km north of Santiago. An analysis of the system for a day in November indicates the system was not able to utilize the heat generated, resulting in rapid de- and refocusing of the collector and problems with sensor calibration. An analysis of a day in March indicates the tracking algorithm has not correctly aligned the collector with the sun’s position. An investigation into the design document reveals that the meteorological data underestimates the actual irradiation values by 40%, resulting in an oversized system given the actual conditions. To increase the energy gain in the system it is proposed to increase the working pressure from the current value of 1.5bar to up to 5bar, which could increase the system utilization from 41% to 65% and reduce the dumped energy to near zero. The simulation results with actual weather data and a fixed inlet temperature indicate the annual solar fraction could increase from the design value of 8.1% to 31.8% with a working pressure of 5 bar. The plant presents multiple opportunities for improvement not only to the performance of the plant but also in the design and installation of solar thermal systems in Chile in the future.The application of solar thermal energy to meet the heat demands of the food and beverage processing industry in Chile has huge potential. This paper presents an assessment of the first large aperture trough collector installed in Latin America. The collector preheats water for a boiler in a juice-concentrating factory, 100 km north of Santiago. An analysis of the system for a day in November indicates the system was not able to utilize the heat generated, resulting in rapid de- and refocusing of the collector and problems with sensor calibration. An analysis of a day in March indicates the tracking algorithm has not correctly aligned the collector with the sun’s position. An investigation into the design document reveals that the meteorological data underestimates the actual irradiation values by 40%, resulting in an oversized system given the actual conditions. To increase the energy gain in the system it is proposed to increase the working pressure from the current value of 1.5bar to up to 5bar, which ...

Modeling of solar polygeneration plant

In this work, a exergoeconomic analysis of the joint production of electricity, fresh water, cooling and process heat for a simulated concentrated solar power (CSP) based on parabolic trough collector (PTC) with thermal energy storage (TES) and backup energy system (BS), a multi-effect distillation (MED) module, a refrigeration absorption module, and process heat module is carried out. Polygeneration plant is simulated in northern Chile in Crucero with a yearly total DNI of 3,389 kWh/m2/year. The methodology includes designing and modeling a polygeneration plant and applying exergoeconomic evaluations and calculating levelized cost. Solar polygeneration plant is simulated hourly, in a typical meteorological year, for different solar multiple and hour of storage. This study reveals that the total exergy cost rate of products (sum of exergy cost rate of electricity, water, cooling and heat process) is an alternative method to optimize a solar polygeneration plant.

Assessing the performance of hybrid CSP+PV plants in northern Chile

The electricity systems in Chile are characterized by a variable hourly demand in the central grid and an almost constant demand in the northern grid, which require different operation strategies for solar power plants depending on their location. Hybridizing a CSP plant with a PV plant can increase the whole plant capacity factor by allowing thermal energy to be stored while the PV plant is in production and thus help to achieve a fully dispatchable solar electricity production system. A thermal and economic analysis of hybrid CSP+PV plants is conducted considering a range of plant capacities based on a parabolic trough plant with the addition of a PV plant for the environmental conditions of Crucero in Northern Chile, which is a hotspot for solar energy development in the country. The study considers a parametric analysis and optimization of the storage and power block sizes for the CSP plant in terms of the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for varying PV plant nominal capacity. The annual production of ...

Evaluación de la contribución de los bonos de carbono a la competitividad de las centrales solares de concentración en Chile

espanolEn Chile el 68% de la energia electrica consumida es generada por centrales termicas accionadas por combustibles fosiles, los que son importados en 90%. Las variaciones en el precio de los combustibles afectan directamente al sector industrial, lo que podria convertirse en un inconveniente para el desarrollo del pais. Las energias renovables pueden ser una respuesta a la preocupacion por la seguridad energetica y el cambio climatico. Sin embargo, su despliegue avanza a una velocidad menor a la deseable debido a la alta percepcion de riesgo que se les asigna a estos proyectos. El presente trabajo estima la contribucion de los bonos de carbono a la competitividad de las centrales solares de concentracion. Para ello utiliza simulaciones de plantas solares realizadas con el software SAM y calculos de reduccion de emisiones con metodologias oficiales de la UNFCCC. Estos factores de emision son proyectados al futuro mediante diferentes escenarios energeticos para determinar los aumentos de la competitividad de la energia solar que genera la particularidad climatica del pais. Esta contribucion argumenta que la percepcion de riesgo es equivocada y que es necesario evaluar los flujos en el largo plazo, ya que fuentes de energia como la solar de concentracion han demostrado ser competitivas bajo las condiciones adecuadas de clima, financiamiento e incentivos. Adicionalmente, se ha observado que ingresos por bonos de carbono pueden representar una baja considerable en los Costos Nivelados de Energia (LCOE) de las tecnologias solares de concentracion. EnglishCurrently in Chile about 68% of the electricity is generated by thermal power plants, consuming fossil fuels which are approximately 90% imported. The high variations on the price of such resources affect directly the industrial production, and therefore hindering the national development. Nonetheless, Chile presents high availability of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, which can represent a viable alternative in achieving the challenges in energy security and climate change mitigation goals. Despite that, the current deployment of renewable energy technologies in Chile is not significant, mainly due to the high risk associated to such projects. The aim of the present work is to assess the contribution of the carbon credits to the competitiveness of concentrating solar power plants. The evaluation is carried out by several simulations using the System Advisor Model software, coupled with the official methodologies from UNFCCC for estimating the emission reduction and considering several scenarios for the composition of the Chilean electricity matrix. Through this analysis it is possible to establish that the risk perception is not justified, since at the particular climatic conditions of northern Chile, can be competitive with other energy sources. In this context, the key variables are the solar irradiation, financing alternatives and tax incentives. However, the carbon credits can also represent a decrease of the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), depending on the evolution of the carbon market.