Identifying Strategies for Energy Consumption Reduction and Energy Efficiency Improvement in Fruit and Vegetable Producing Cooperatives: A Case Study in the Frame of TESLA Project

Abstract

TESLA (Transfering Energy Save Laid on Agroindustry) is a EU project pointing to the reduction of energy consumption and the improvement of energy efficiency in key agro-food sectors’ cooperatives, as those processing fruit and vegetables. After a general analysis of energy consumptions during the first phase of the project, the processes responsible for the higher energy consumptions in these fruit and vegetable industries, as cold storage, have been identified. In the second phase of the project, a few case studies aimed at proposing customized solutions for reducing energy wastage and for improving energy efficiency in specific selected cooperatives have been performed. In this manuscript we report preliminary results of a case study carried out in an Italian horticulture cooperative having several production lines for fresh (1^st range) and minimally processed (4^th range) fruit and vegetable products. In this cooperative, an in-depth energy audit has been performed, and additionally a process simulation software has been applied to model, evaluate and improve the operations in this processing centre and in the supply chain from the primary production sites. Such case study may be used as an example for similar cooperatives of the fruit and vegetables sector, thus contributing in making this sector more economically and energetically sustainable.