Greenhouse cultivation in Mediterranean climate: Dynamic energy analysis and experimental validation

Dynamic energy modeling is a crucial element for developing new energy management strategies and reducing energy consumption in agricultural greenhouses. The aim of this work is the validation of a dynamic model created in EnergyPlus environment by means of experimental measurements from the high efficiency greenhouse "Smart Agro-Manufacturing Laboratory" (SamLab) located in Albenga, Italy. The SamLab greenhouse includes passive technologies (shading/reflecting and operable windows systems) and renewable energies (ground coupled heat pump and PV modules). The measured ground-coupled heat pump electrical consumption, the borehole heat transfer rate and the electrical production of the photovoltaic modules are thus compared to the predicted ones for the model validation. The results show the efficacy of the proposed model with a fair agreement between the hourly estimations and measurements. The validated model can be useful to test and validate new energy management strategies and to control and optimize the greenhouse system.