Int. J. Renewable Energy Technology, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2013 65 Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Technical and economic analysis of a solar-assisted air-conditioning system Zouhour Sayadi Research Unit Thermodynamics and Thermal Industrial Processes, National Engineering School of Monastir (ENIM), Department of Energy Engineering, Av. Ibn Jazzar, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia Fax: +216-73-500-514 E-mail: zouhour.sayadi@gmail.com Mahmoud Bourouis Mechanical Engineering Department, CREVER -Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Paîsos Catalans, No. 26, 43007 Tarragona, Spain E-mail: mahmoud.bourouis@urv.cat Ahmed Bellagi* Research Unit Thermodynamics and Thermal Industrial Processes, National Engineering School of Monastir (ENIM), Department of Energy Engineering, Av. Ibn Jazzar, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia Fax: +216-73-500-514 E-mail: a.bellagi@enim.rnu.tn *Corresponding author Abstract: This paper presents analysis aiming at assessing the feasibility and economic performance of a solar-assisted air-conditioning system for a middle class house under the climatic conditions of Tunis City. Two alternative cooling modes for the single effect water-lithium bromide absorption machine are considered, a water-cooling in association with a cooling tower and air-cooling. The numerical simulations show that for the water-cooling case, a solar system with 18 m 2 of evacuated tube collector area and a thermal storage tank of 1.3 m 3 maintained at a temperature of 95°C can cover 50% of the energy needs of the machine. The corresponding optimal results for the air-cooled chiller are: energy needs coverage 40%, hot water tank capacity 1 m 3 at 110°C, collector area 14 m 2 . The annually total costs for the case of water-cooling and air-cooling are respectively 3.52 €/kWh and 2.51 €/kWh. Keywords: single effect chiller; H 2 O/Libr absorption machine; evacuated tube collectors; solar air-conditioning; economic viability; cost; optimisation; TRNSYS.