Central solar heating
Central solar heating is the provision of central heating and hot water from solar energy by a system in which the water is heated centrally by arrays of solar thermal collectors (central solar heating plants - CSHPs) and distributed through district heating pipe networks (or 'block heating' systems in the case of smaller installations).
For block systems, the solar collectors are typically mounted on the building roof tops. For district heating systems the collectors may instead be installed on the ground.
Central solar heating can involve large-scale thermal storage, scaling from diurnal storage to seasonal thermal energy storage (STES). Thermal storage increase the solar fraction - the ratio between solar energy gain to the total energy demand in the system - for solar thermal systems. Ideally, the aim for applying seasonal storage is to store solar energy collected in the summer time to the winter month.
Compared to small solar heating systems (solar combisystems), central solar heating systems have better price-performance ratios due to the lower installation price, the higher thermal efficiency and less maintenance.
Central solar systems can also be used for solar cooling in the form of district cooling. In this case, the overall efficiency is high due to the high correlation between the energy demand and the solar radiation.
Largest CSHPs
Name | Country | Owner | Size | Thermal Power |
Annual production |
Installation year |
Storage volume |
Storage type Facilities |
Collector manufacturer |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
m² | MWth | GWh | m³ | ||||||
Vojens | DK | Vojens Fjernvarme | 70,000 | 50 | 35 | 2012-2015 | 203,000 | Insulated water pond Water tank |
ARCON (DK)[1][2][3] |
Dronninglund | DK | 37,573 | 27 | 18 | 2014 | ArCon (DK)[4] | |||
Ringkøbing | DK | 30,000 | 22.6 | 14 | 2010-2014 | ArCon[5] | |||
Vildbjerg | DK | 21,234 | 14.5 | 9.5 | 2014 | ArCon[6] | |||
Helsinge | DK | Helsinge Fjernvarme | 19,588 | 14 | 9.4 | 2012-2014 | [7] | ||
Gråsten | DK | 19,024 | 13 | 9.7 | 2012 | ARCON (DK)[8] | |||
Brædstrup | DK | Brædstrup Fjernvarme | 18,612 | 14 | 8.9 | 2007/2012 | ARCON (DK)[9] | ||
Tarm | DK | 18,585 | 13.1 | 9 | 2013 | ARCON (DK)[10] | |||
Marstal | DK | Marstal Fjernvarme | 17,943 | 13.5 | 8.5 | 1996–2002 | 2,100 3,500 10,000 |
Water tank Sand/water ground pit Insulated water pond |
Sunmark / ARCON (DK)[11] |
Jetsmark | DK | 15,183 | 10.6 | 7.6 | 2015 | Arcon/Sunmark (DK)[12] | |||
Oksbøl | DK | 14,745 | 9.9 | 7.7 | 2010/2013 | Sunmark (DK)[13] | |||
Jægerspris | DK | 13,405 | 8.6 | 6 | 2010 | Sunmark (DK)[14] | |||
SydLangeland | DK | 12,500 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 2013 | Sunmark (DK)[15] | |||
Grenaa | DK | 12,096 | 8.4 | 5.8 | 2014 | Arcon (DK)[16] | |||
SydFalster | DK | 12,094 | 8.5 | 6 | 2011 | Arcon (DK)[17] | |||
Hvidebæk | DK | 12,038 | 8.6 | 5.7 | 2013 | Arcon (DK)[18] | |||
Sæby | DK | Sæby Fjernvarme | 11,866 | 8 | 6.3 | 2011 | Sunmark (DK)[19] | ||
Toftlund | DK | 11,000 | 7.4 | 5.4 | 2013 | Sunmark (DK)[20] | |||
Gram (Denmark) | 10,073 | 7 | 4.8 | 2009 | 122,000 | Insulated water pond. 10MW electric boiler 900 kW heat pump |
[21][22] | ||
Kungälv | SE | Kungälv Energi AB | 10,048 | 7.0 | 4.5 | 2000 | 1,000 | Water tank | ARCON (DK) |
Svebølle-Viskinge | 10,000 | 5.3 | 5 | 2011/2014 | [23] | ||||
Karup | DK | 8,063 | 5.4 | 3.7 | 2013 | ARCON (DK)[24] | |||
Strandby | DK | Strandby Varmeværk | 8,000 | 5.6 | 3.6 | 2007 | ARCON (DK)[25] | ||
Nykvärn | SE | Telge Energi AB | 7,500 | 5.3 | 3.4 | 1985 | 1,500 | Water tank | Teknoterm (SE) ARCON (DK) |
Ærøskøbing | DK | Ærøskøping Fjernvarme | 7,050 | 3.4 | 3 | 1998/2010 | 1,200 | Water tank | ARCON/Sunmark (DK)[26] |
Falkenberg | SE | Falkenberg Energi AB | 5,500 | 3.9 | 2.5 | 1989 | 1,100 | Water tank | Teknoterm (SE) ARCON (DK) |
Neckarsulm | DE | Stadtwerke Neckarsulm | 5,044 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 1997 | 25,000 | Soil duct heat exchanger | Sonnenkraft (DE) ARCON (DK) |
Ulsted | DK | Ulsted Fjernvarme | 5,000 | 3.5 | 2.2 | 2006 | 1,000 | Water tank | ARCON (DK) |
Friederichshafen | DE | Technische Werke Fried. | 4,250 | 3.0 | 1.9 | 1996 | 12,000 | Concrete tank in ground | ARCON (DK) |
Source: Jan Erik Nielsen, PlanEnergi, DK.
Hereafter you find a plant in Rise (DK) with a new collector producer, Marstal VVS (DK), a plant in Ry (DK), one of the oldest in Europe, a plant in Hamburg and a number of plants below 3,000 m². It may be relevant mentioning, that the island of Ærø in Denmark has three of the major CSHP, Marstal, Ærøskøping and Rise.
History of central solar heating plants
The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (May 2010) |
- The history of CSHP given here is mainly a Nordic-European perspective on the topic.
Sweden has played a major role in the development of large-scale solar heating. According to (Dalenbäck, J-O., 1993), the first steps were taken in the early seventies in Linköping, Sweden, followed by a mature revision in 1983 in Lyckebo, Sweden. Inspired by this work, Finland developed its first plant in Kerava, and the Netherlands built a first plant in Groningen. These plants are reported under the International Energy Agency by (Dalenbäck, J-O., 1990). Note that these plants did already combine CSHPs with large-scale thermal storage.
The first large-scale solar collector fields were made on-site in Torvalle, Sweden, 1982, 2000 m² and Malung, Sweden, 640 m². Prefabricated collector arrays were introduced in Nykvarn, Sweden, 4000 m² in 1985. There was from the beginning a strong international perspective and cooperation within this research field, through investigation with the European Communities (Dalenbäck, J-O., 1995) and the International Energy Agency (Dalenbäck, J-O., 1990). Denmark did enter this research area parallel to the Swedish activities with a plant in Vester Nebel in 1987, one plant in Saltum in 1988 and one in Ry in 1989, taking over the know-how for prefabricated solar collectors of large size by the Swedish company Teknoterm by the dominating company ARCON, Denmark. In the later 1990s Germany and Switzerland were active among others with plants in Stuttgart and Chemnitz.
Due to cheap land prices, in the Nordic countries new collector arrays are ground-mounted (concrete foundations or pile-driven steel) in suitable areas (low-yield agricultural, industry etc.). Countries with high ground prices tend to place solar collectors on building roofs, following the 'block plant' variant of CSHPs. In Northern Europe, 20% solar heat of annual heating requirement is the economic optimum in a district heating plant when using above-ground storage tanks. If pond storage is used, the solar contribution can reach 50%.[27]
By 1999 40 CSHPs were in operation in Europe generating about 30 MW of thermal power [1].
Related systems
Central solar heating is a sub-class of 'large-scale solar heating' systems - a term applied to systems with solar collector areas greater than 500 m².
In Alberta, Canada the Drake Landing Solar Community has achieved a world record 97% annual solar fraction for heating needs, using solar-thermal panels on the garage roofs and thermal storage in a borehole cluster.[28][29][30]
See also
- District heating
- Solar heating
- Solar cooling
- Solar combisystem
- Solar thermal energy
- District cooling
- Renewable energy
References
- ^ Wittrup, Sanne (14 June 2015). "Verdens største damvarmelager indviet i Vojens". Ingeniøren.
- ^ http://xqw.dk/work/FG22/okt/Projektforslag_for_udvidelse_af_Vojens_solvarme_med_bilag.pdf
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Vojens in South-West Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Dronninglund in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Ringkøbing in West Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Vildbjerg in West Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Helsinge in East Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Gråsten in South Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Brædstrup in Central Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Tarm in West Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Marstal in South Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Jetsmark in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Oksbøl in West Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Jægerspris in East Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Langeland in South Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Grenaa in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Falster in South-East Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Hvidebæk in East Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Sæby in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Toftlund in South Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Inspirationskatalog for store varmepumpeprojekter i fjernvarmesystemet page 59. November 2014
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Gram in South-West Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Svebølle-Viskinge in East Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Karup in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Strandby in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants (click Ærøskøping in South Denmark, then "About the plant")
- ^ Wittrup, Sanne. "https://ing.dk/artikel/dansk-solteknologi-mod-nye-verdensrekorder-179658 Dansk solteknologi mod nye verdensrekorder]" Ingeniøren, 23 October 2015. Accessed: 16 July 2016.
- ^ Wong B., Thornton J. (2013). Integrating Solar & Heat Pumps. Renewable Heat Workshop. (Powerpoint)
- ^ Natural Resources Canada, 2012. Canadian Solar Community Sets New World Record for Energy Efficiency and Innovation. 5 Oct. 2012.
- ^ Drake Landing
External links
- Solar District Heating in Europe: Large Scale Solar Heating Systems for Housing Developments
- European Large-Scale Solar Heating Network Thermie Project
- The European Large-Scale Solar Heating Network's former Homepage
- 17.081 m2 CSHP at Ærø, Denmark
- CSHP with an aquifer thermal energy store, Rostock, Germany
- CSHPs in Germany
- Current data on Danish solar heat plants
Further reading
- Central Solar Heating Plants with Seasonal Storage: A Status Report, ISBN 91-540-5201-7, Swedish Council for Building Research, June 1990 [2].