Modeling and Analysis of a Renewable-energy-powered Greenhouse

The role of renewable energy powered greenhouses in the development of sustainable agriculture is crucial. Such self-powered standalone greenhouses promise improvement in agriculture in outland regions with incongruous farming conditions and unavailable distribution system, and propose healthy and available food for customers without seasonal interruptions. This study presents the modeling and design of a renewable-energy-powered greenhouse that will be situated in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The geographical location of the greenhouse poses challenges related to the availability of sunlight and substantial annual thermal variation. The greenhouse model presented in this study includes parabolic trough collector (PTC), an earth-to-air heat exchanger (EAHE), and micro combined heat and power (mCHP) as input heating sources and photovoltaic cells (PV) as an electricity generation unit for greenhouse operation. The paper proposes thermal RC modeling of the greenhouse and its components. The results of the simulation demonstrate that the PV cells can generate up to 4.5 kW peak power in the daytime, while the greenhouse air temperature can be sustained between 19 °C and 21 °C.