World’s highest efficiency solar thermal cooling system inaugurated in India today

Government of India Press Information Bureau announced the inauguration of the world's highest efficiency solar thermal cooling system. It stated that " India achieves major breakthrough in solar thermal cooling system technology". The system was inaugurated at the Solar Energy Center in Guragon, Haryana, India by Dr. Farooq Abdullah, The minister of New & Renewable Energy on July 1, 2011.

The system was described to be a 100kw solar power based air-conditioning system. The efficiency of the system is expected to be 30% higher than other current available systems. The system features high efficiency medium temperature parabolic troughs for collection of solar energy and phase change material based solar thermal energy storage. The unique technology is based on the new triple effect absorption cooling technology. As per the press release, the solar thermal cooling system has been developed in joint collaboration by Solar Energy Centre with M/s Thermax Limited, Pune.  The Phase Change Material PCM OM11P was used to store cold energy for the Solar Thermal Cooling System installed at the Solar Energy Centre, Gurgaon. This PCM product has been developed by Pluss Polymers Pvt. Ltd, India.  PCM OM11P is an organic phase change material with latent heat storage capacity of 260 KJ/Kg. The phase change temperature is engineered to change phase at +11C.  The campus of the Solar Energy Centre for its R&D activities is located at the 19th milestone on the Gurgaon-Faridabad road. The surrounding area is predominantly agricultural. The main approach to the Campus passes through the Arawalis, which are considered to be the oldest mountain range in India. The campus covers an area of about 81 hectares that receives abundant sunshine. The buildings of the Solar Energy Center have been constructed using various solar passive techniques to achieve energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.