Solar cooling opportunities on Victorian fruit and dairy farms

In the dairy and fruit industry, refrigeration of f resh products is the biggest electricity consumer and accounts for a large proportion of gre enhouse gas emissions. The fruit industry in Victoria produces more than 3 0 per cent of Australia's apples, 30 per cent of Australia's stone fruits and 70 per cen t of Australia's pears. More than twothirds of Australia’s 8,800 dairy farms are located in Victoria, which produces annually more than six billion litres of milk. Sustainability Victoria investigated opportunities for solar cooling applications on dairy and fruit farms in Victoria. Information and data o n cooling loads on selected dairy and fruit farms were collected and analysed using TRNSYS modelling in order to estimate the energy and greenhouse gas savings of this appli cation in Victoria. The paper discusses the technical viability of diff erent solar cooling application designs on fruit and dairy farms and their potential energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) savings. For the sites described, up to 26 per cent energy s avings can be achieved in dairy farms and up to 9 per cent savings in cold stores.