Indoor environmental conditions and energy consumption of a plastic multi-span greenhouse: numerical simulations vs. monitoring

The present work deals with the simulation and calibration of an energy model of a 3 hectares plastic multi-span greenhouse in Piemonte. Dynamic energy simulations were performed by means of the EnergyPlus software tool. The energy model of the greenhouse was calibrated against monitoring data of the 2014 year, which were retrieved from the Building Automation System (BAS) of the greenhouse. At the end of the process, the simulation results matched with the real data gathered on field. The calibrated energy model allowed possible retrofitting solutions to be evaluated in term of energy performance increasing and satisfaction of the environmental requirements for plants’ growth.