Performance assessment of a solar trigeneration system for residential applications by means of a modelling study

Concentrated solar technologies coupled with ORC system is a well-known topic in temperature ranges lower than 200°C. However, the integration to an efficient and economic working system is still a challenge especially at small scale. Efforts exist to achieve higher overall efficiencies but they are solely focused on thermal and electrical production while few of these is encompassing small-scale solar trigeneration systems. In the present article, the potential of a small scale concentrated solar Organic Rankine Cycle plant coupled with an absorber is investigated using a simulation analysis of a small scale 50 m2 CPC solar field, a 3.5 kWe ORC and a 17.6 kWc absorption chiller to satisfy respectively heating, electricity and cooling needs of a residential user. The simulation analysis of the overall system has been carried out in TRNSYS and an own model of the ORC system has been developed by the authors in Matlab thus improving the previous general model. The final aim of the proposed work is indeed the performance assessment of the small scale integrated system in order to evaluate the potential feasibility of such a system for residential applications.