Photovoltaic as Sustainable Energy for Greenhouse and Closed Plant Production System

In this paper, a description of a prototype for closed plant production module with a photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation system is presented. This is one of the results of a cooperation research project started on 1997 among the ENEA (Agency for New Technologies, the Energy and the Environment) and some Italian Universities (Palermo, Messina and Pisa) with the aim to realize a closed hydroponic module to supply fresh plant food for the personnel of the Italian base "Mario Zucchelli" located at "Baia Terranova" (BTN) in Antartica. The prototype was designed as a container unit (6.055 m (1) x 2.435 m (w) x 2.585 m (h)) equipped with a stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) system, made of 6 modules able to generate 1.1 kW(p) DC peak power, mounted on the roof. The DC power can be converted into AC power by a DC/AC inverter or stored in a battery bank (24 V/900 Ah). The main goal of the work is to test the feasibility of a PV power generation system both for closed plant production module (that will be installed at BTN) and Sicilian greenhouse industry. At the moment, the prototype has been installed in the south of Italy (S.Croce Camerina, located in the Sicily region, 36 degrees 49' of latitude and an annual average sum of solar irradiance near to 2,000 kWh.m(-2)). Experiments are in progress to evaluate the PV system efficiency and its economic aspects.