Integrating solar heat in energy micro-grids for small scale productive communities.

The current efforts to implement renewable sources for community-driven solutions for energy supply in traditional population settlements having limited access to energy distribution networks are mainly based on systems devoted to fulfilling the electricity demands. However, in addition to the above, many productive activities located at those settlements could also benefit from the current advances in solar thermal energy collectors' designs aimed at providing modular and reliable heat sources for micro-industries. Accordingly, this work describes the results of a study for the integration of solar heat in five small-scale productive activities in isolated settlements from Spain, Mexico, and Chile. The study has been carried out in the framework of the MICROPROD-SOLAR project, which intends to promote and support the use of solar heat for productive processes in small-scale micro-factories, farms and other productive centers located in areas where, due to geographical, economic or environmental constraints, the access to energy is limited. The analyzed cases correspond to the following sectors: traditional beverages, milk and cheese processing and greenhouse heating. They were selected as a first reference for a techno-economic assessment to support stakeholders and end-users' specific initiatives. Simulations with a specific tool have been carried out to evaluate both the reachable solar fraction and the payback period, in each of the case studies showing favorable results in almost all the cases for the possible integration of a solar heat system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]