Summary
Solar‐driven polygeneration systems are promising technologies for covering many energy demands with a renewable and sustainable way. The objective of the present work is the investigation of a trigeneration system, which is driven by solar‐dish collectors. The examined trigeneration system includes an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), which operates with toluene, and an absorption heat pump, which operates with LiBr/H2O. The absorption heat pump is fed with heat by the condenser of the ORC, which operates at medium temperature levels (120°C to 150°C). The absorption heat pump produces both useful heat at 55°C and cooling at 12°C. The ORC produces electricity, and it is fed by the solar dishes. The examined ORC is a regenerative cycle with superheating. The total analysis is performed with a developed model in Engineering Equation Solver (EES). The system is investigated parametrically for different ORC heat‐rejection temperatures, different superheating levels in the turbine inlet, and various solar‐beam irradiation levels. Furthermore, the system is investigated on a yearly basis for the climate conditions of Athens (Greece) and for Belgrade (Serbia). It is found that the yearly system energy and exergy efficiencies are 108.39% and 20.92%, respectively, for Athens, while 111.38% and 21.50%, respectively, for Belgrade. The values over 100% for the energy efficiency are explained by the existence of a heat pump in the examined configuration. For both locations, the payback period is found close to 10 years and the internal rate of return close to 10%. The final results indicate that the examined configuration is a highly efficient and viable system, which operates only with a renewable energy source.