Solar cooling plants represent today an interesting solution for air conditioning and primary energy savings. However, the plant configurations are still on development and the different solutions are tested in pilot plants. In this paper, a study on a possible high-efficiency configuration has been conducted. This solar cooling plant is based on a linear parabolic collectors solar field operating at 160- 180 °C and coupled with a double effect absorption chiller. This solution could lead to an energy performance near to the DEC technology but with lower investment costs.

A numerical model in TRNSYS has been developed in order to evaluate the performance and the possibility to build a pilot plant in the RSE experimental area. Thanks to the model, the system design process was studied and were identified the most important parameters (area of the solar field, nominal power of the absorption chillers, and volumes of the heat storage). The way how these parameters affect the overall performance of the plant has been investigated and a sizing procedure for solar cooling plant with a nominal refrigeration power of 20 – 45 kW was developed. A building in the RSE area was chosen and the procedure has been applied in order to design a dedicated solar cooling plant.