INOVA will be present at the 43rd edition of AGRO – International Fair of Agriculture, Pecuary and Food in Exhibition Park in Braga

At international level, the several European projects developed by INOVAMAIS promote the knowledge exchange among the scientific entities and the entrepreneurial community and contribute for the internationalization of the Portuguese companies. One of the examples is the SAHC project (Solar Assisted Heating and Cooling – www.sahc.eu). The agrofood production requires heating and cooling which are provided through different devices: thermal energy boilers and electric chillers. Using driven cooling technologies heat, SAHC centrals meet the energetic needs, exploring a relevant percentage of solar resources.

The main barriers for the application of Solar Assisted Heating and Cooling centrals are not technological but economical: high cost and difficult evaluation of the investment; and technical: lack of systematic data, knowledge in choice and design.

The goal of the project is to remove these barriers, providing to the participants (decision makers and production managers in agrofood companies, central solar designers, energy managers and ESCO) the tools to assess the technical and financial liability of the application, in order to make the optimal choice for the configuration, dimension and funding of the project, also through other funding options. The project is focused in 5 European countries with significant solar potential: Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and France.