In the industrial food supply chain, cold storage is one of the most important processes
where there is a huge but still unused potential for employing renewable energy technologies.
This paper analyses how the integration of rooftop photovoltaics affects the design and performance
of refrigerated automated warehouses, which are becoming the preferred choice for frozen food
storage facilities. The problem is modelled and solved by means of Constraint Programming. Results
for the reference case in north-eastern Italy show that photovoltaic installation can lead to both
yearly total cost and energy savings. Simulations highlight how design and performance of the
refrigerated automated warehouse strictly depend on supply chain decision variables. PV integration
offers supply chain managers more opportunities to act on the storage temperature and the
incoming product temperatures strictly related to upstream and downstream stages of the whole
cold chain. Attention should be paid to system throughput, which presents an intermediate range for
which the design optimization of volume and surfaces reduces the convenience of PV integration.
Simulations on facility locations reveal how different climate conditions affect the economic and
environmental performance of the refrigerated warehouse, as well as country specific carbon intensity
and energy price.
