Central solar heating

Summary

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. In some countries such as Denmark large-scale solar district heating plants are financially fully competitive to other forms of heat generation.[1]

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.

Marstal central solar heating, with an area of 18,365 m2. It covers a third of Marstal's heat consumption.

Largest CSHPs edit

Name Country Owner Solar collector size Thermal
Power
Annual
production
Installation
year
Storage
volume
Storage type
Facilities
Collector manufacturer
m2 MWth GWh m3
Silkeborg DK Silkeborg Fjernvarme 157,000 110 80 2016 64,000 Water tank ARCON (DK)[2][3][4][5][6]
Vojens DK Vojens Fjernvarme 70,000 50 35 2012-2015 203,000 Insulated water pond
Water tank
ARCON (DK)[7][8][9]
Port Augusta, South Australia Australia Sundrop Farms 51,500 36.4 2016 Aalborg CSP. Desalination for vegetables. 1.5 MW electricity[10][11]
Gram (Denmark) 44,801 31 20.8 2009- 122,000 Insulated water pond.
10MW electric boiler
900 kW heat pump
[12][13]
Gabriela Mistral, El Loa, Atacama Desert Chile CODELCO mine 43,920 27-34 52-80 2013 4,300 Water tank ARCON (DK). Supplies an electrowinning copper process[5][14][15][16]
Dronninglund DK 37,573 26 18 2014 60,000 Insulated water pond ArCon (DK)[17][18]
Zhongba, 4,700 metres altitude[19] Tibet (China) 34,650 20 2019 15,000 Water tank ArCon[20][21]
Marstal DK Marstal Fjernvarme 33,300 24 13.4 1996–2002, 2020 2,100
3,500
70,000
Water tank
Sand/water ground pit
Insulated water pond with new lid
Sunmark / ARCON (DK). Feeds 0.75 MW ORC turbine[22][23][24][25][26]
Ringkøbing DK 30,000 22.6 14 2010-2014 ArCon[27]
Brønderslev DK 27,000 16.6 8,000 Water tank CSP parabolic trough[28][29][30]
Langkazi, 4,600 metres altitude[31] Tibet (China) 22,000 2018 15,000 Insulated water pond ArCon[20][32]
Hjallerup DK 21,432 [33]
Vildbjerg DK 21,234 14.5 9.5 2014 ArCon[34]
Helsinge DK Helsinge Fjernvarme 19,588 14 9.4 2012-2014 [35]
Hadsund DK Hadsund Fjernvarme 20,513 14 11.5 2015 ARCON (DK)[36]
Nykøbing Sjælland DK 20,084 14 9.5 ARCON (DK)[37]
Gråsten DK 19,024 13 9.7 2012 ARCON (DK)[38]
Brædstrup DK Brædstrup Fjernvarme 18,612 14 8.9 2007/2012 5,000
19,000
Water tank
Borehole storage, insulated by seashells
ARCON (DK)[39][40]
Tarm DK 18,585 13.1 9 2013 ARCON (DK)[41]
Jetsmark DK 15,183 10.6 7.6 2015 Arcon/Sunmark (DK)[42]
Oksbøl DK 14,745 9.9 7.7 2010/2013 Sunmark (DK)[43]
Jægerspris DK 13,405 8.6 6 2010 Sunmark (DK)[44]
SydLangeland DK 12,500 7.5 7.5 2013 Sunmark (DK)[45]
Grenaa DK 12,096 8.4 5.8 2014 Arcon (DK)[46]
SydFalster DK 12,094 8.5 6 2011 Arcon (DK)[47]
Hvidebæk DK 12,038 8.6 5.7 2013 Arcon (DK)[48]
Sæby DK Sæby Fjernvarme 11,866 8 6.3 2011 Sunmark (DK)[49]
Toftlund DK 11,000 7.4 5.4 2013 Sunmark (DK)[50]
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 [51]
Karup DK 8,063 5.4 3.7 2013 ARCON (DK)[52]
Strandby DK Strandby Varmeværk 8,000 5.6 3.6 2007 ARCON (DK)[53]
Nykvärn SE Telge Energi AB 7,500 5.3 3.4 1985 1,500 Water tank Teknoterm (SE)
ARCON (DK)
Crailsheim DE 7,300 2012 37,500 Borehole Wagner, Schüco, Aquasol, Asgard[54][55]
Ærøskøbing DK Ærøskøping Fjernvarme 7,050 3.4 3 1998/2010 1,200 Water tank ARCON/Sunmark (DK)[56]
La Parreña mine Mexico Peñoles 6,270 4,4 660 Water tank ARCON (DK). Supplies an electrowinning process[57]
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.

 
District heating accumulation tower from Theiss near Krems an der Donau in Lower Austria with a thermal capacity of 2 GWh.

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 edit

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%.[58]

By 1999 40 CSHPs were in operation in Europe generating about 30 MW of thermal power [1][permanent dead link].

Related systems edit

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.

Aquifers, boreholes and artificial ponds (costing €30/m3) are used as heat storage (up to 90% efficient) in some central solar heating plants, which later extract the heat (similar to ground storage) via a large heat pump to supply district heating.[59][60] Some of these are listed in the table above.

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.[61][62][63]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Nicolas Perez-Mora et al.: Solar district heating and cooling: A review. International Journal of Energy Research 42, 4, 2018, 1419-1441 doi:10.1002/er.3888.
  2. ^ Wittrup, Sanne (10 January 2017). "Verdens største solfangeranlæg i drift i Silkeborg". Ingeniøren.
  3. ^ Kornum, René (15 July 2016). "Verdens største solvarmeanlæg på vej ved Silkeborg". Ingeniøren.
  4. ^ "Record-breaking solar heating system ready on time". Euroheat & Power. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  5. ^ a b "DBDH – Record-breaking solar heating system ready on time". 9 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  6. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Silkeborg in South-West Denmark, then "About the plant")
  7. ^ Wittrup, Sanne (14 June 2015). "Verdens største damvarmelager indviet i Vojens". Ingeniøren. Archived from the original on 2015-10-19. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  8. ^ http://xqw.dk/work/FG22/okt/Projektforslag_for_udvidelse_af_Vojens_solvarme_med_bilag.pdf[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Vojens in South-West Denmark, then "About the plant")
  10. ^ "Sundrop Farms Port Augusta". Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  11. ^ "COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT PANEL AGENDA Meeting #123" (PDF). Port Augusta City Council. 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  12. ^ Inspirationskatalog for store varmepumpeprojekter i fjernvarmesystemet Archived 2016-06-06 at the Wayback Machine page 59. November 2014
  13. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Gram in South-West Denmark, then "About the plant")
  14. ^ "Copper mine - Atacama Desert, Chile". Arcon-Sunmark. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  15. ^ Baerbel Epp (28 November 2016). "Chile: Consistent Electrolytic Bath Temperature Control Increases Copper Cathode Quality". Solarthermalworld.org. Archived from the original on 12 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  16. ^ "Codelco Gabriela Mistral". Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  17. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Dronninglund in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
  18. ^ "Brochure dronninglund 2015 booklet eng print". pp. 5–8. Retrieved 29 April 2017.[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ "Zhongba Xian". Mapcarta.
  20. ^ a b Baerbel, Epp (25 November 2019). "Second Arcon-Sunmark SDH system up and running in Tibet". Solarthermalworld. Archived from the original on 2020-01-13.
  21. ^ "Major solar district heating project in China". Euroheat & Power. 25 June 2019.
  22. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Marstal in South Denmark, then "About the plant")
  23. ^ "Sunstore 4 - 100% Renewable District Heating". Sunstore. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  24. ^ "Marstal Fjernvarme - vandbehandling og solvarme". Silhorko. Retrieved 29 April 2017.[permanent dead link]
  25. ^ Første danske ORC kraftvarme maskine i Marstal[permanent dead link], August 2013
  26. ^ "10.000 m2 lågløsning til damvarmelager i Marstal, Danmark". aalborgcsp.dk (in Danish).
  27. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Ringkøbing in West Denmark, then "About the plant")
  28. ^ Epp, Baerbel (11 August 2017). "Denmark: Concentrating Solar Collectors for District Heat in Northern Europe". www.solarthermalworld.org. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  29. ^ CSP plant combined with biomass CHP using ORC-technology
  30. ^ "Aalborg CSP-Brønderslev CSP with ORC project". solarpaces.nrel.gov. 17 May 2017.
  31. ^ "Langkazi Xian". Mapcarta.
  32. ^ Baerbel, Epp (29 January 2019). ""SDH – a proven technology with a long track record of success"". Solarthermalworld.
  33. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Hjallerup in West Denmark, then "About the plant")
  34. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Vildbjerg in West Denmark, then "About the plant")
  35. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Helsinge in East Denmark, then "About the plant")
  36. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Hadsund in West Denmark, then "About the plant")
  37. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Nykøbing Sjælland in East Denmark, then "About the plant")
  38. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Gråsten in South Denmark, then "About the plant")
  39. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Brædstrup in Central Denmark, then "About the plant")
  40. ^ "Brædstrup Solpark". p. 14. Retrieved 29 April 2017.[permanent dead link]
  41. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Tarm in West Denmark, then "About the plant")
  42. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Jetsmark in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
  43. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Oksbøl in West Denmark, then "About the plant")
  44. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Jægerspris in East Denmark, then "About the plant")
  45. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Langeland in South Denmark, then "About the plant")
  46. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Grenaa in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
  47. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Falster in South-East Denmark, then "About the plant")
  48. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Hvidebæk in East Denmark, then "About the plant")
  49. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Sæby in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
  50. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Toftlund in South Denmark, then "About the plant")
  51. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Svebølle-Viskinge in East Denmark, then "About the plant")
  52. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Karup in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
  53. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Strandby in North Denmark, then "About the plant")
  54. ^ "Solar District Heating in Crailsheim with Seasonal Borehole Storage - Solarthermalworld". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  55. ^ "Projekt Solaranlage". Archived from the original on 2017-06-05. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  56. ^ Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine (click Ærøskøping in South Denmark, then "About the plant")
  57. ^ Baerbel Epp (1 December 2016). "Mexico: Second Solar Process Heat Case Study on Copper Mining". Solarthermalworld.org. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  58. ^ Wittrup, Sanne. "Dansk solteknologi mod nye verdensrekorder" Ingeniøren, 23 October 2015. Accessed: 16 July 2016.
  59. ^ Epp, Baerbel (17 May 2019). "Seasonal pit heat storage: Cost benchmark of 30 EUR/m3". Solarthermalworld. Archived from the original on 2 February 2020.
  60. ^ Kallesøe, A.J. & Vangkilde-Pedersen, T. "Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) - 4 PTES (Pit Thermal Energy Storage), 10 MB" (PDF). www.heatstore.eu. p. 99.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  61. ^ Wong B., Thornton J. (2013). Integrating Solar & Heat Pumps Archived 2016-06-10 at the Wayback Machine. Renewable Heat Workshop. (Powerpoint)
  62. ^ Natural Resources Canada, 2012. Canadian Solar Community Sets New World Record for Energy Efficiency and Innovation Archived 2013-04-30 at the Wayback Machine. 5 Oct. 2012.
  63. ^ Drake Landing

External links edit

  • Solar District Heating in Europe: Large Scale Solar Heating Systems for Housing Developments[permanent dead link]
  • 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
  • Ranking List of European Large Scale Solar Heating Plants
  • Current data on Danish solar heat plants Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading edit

  • Nicolas Perez-Mora et al.: Solar district heating and cooling: A review. International Journal of Energy Research 42, 4, 2018, 1419-1441 doi:10.1002/er.3888.
  • Central Solar Heating Plants with Seasonal Storage: A Status Report, ISBN 91-540-5201-7, Swedish Council for Building Research, June 1990 [2].