Carlo Winterscheid, Autor bei Solar District Heating

On-site collector testing: new standard in development

On-site collector testing: new standard in development

Carlo Winterscheid2018-10-02T10:02:51+02:00Sep 14th, 2018|

Once a large solar field is set up at its designated location, what tests can be conducted to show that it performs as expected? Soon, the IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme may have an answer to this question, as it is working on internationalising Denmark’s testing procedure. No decision has been made on whether the procedure will become part of a full-fledged standard or be turned into a technical specification.

Two tasks of the IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme have been involved in drafting a proposal for a new ISO standard to cover solar energy, collector fields and performance testing: Task 55 ,Towards the Integration of Large SHC Systems into District Heating and Cooling Networks, and Task 57, Solar Standards and Certification.

Jan Erik Nielsen, who works at PlanEnergi, a Danish consultancy, and has his own firm called SolarKey, has been in charge of exploring the possibility of designing a new standard, mainly based on three sources:

The collector test methods described in the recently published ISO 9806:2017
Performance guarantee – Collector field power output, a fact sheet created by Task 45, Large Systems: Large Solar Heating and Cooling Systems, Seasonal Storage, Heat Pumps
Yield data from the long-term operation of large solar thermal fields in Denmark (see http://www.solvarmedata.dk)

Is a new standard coming? In October and December 2017, basic ideas for a new standard were presented during ISO and CEN technical committee meetings. The CEN committee’s subsequent vote on a rough draft showed that the proposal should not be viewed as a guarantee but rather a performance test and that it will be turned into a technical specification and not a full-blown standard. In regard to ISO, it has yet to be made clear whether it will become a technical specification or a standard. The ISO committee is awaiting a new draft and will come to a decision at its next meeting in September 2018.

Full article on Solarthermalworld
Text and Foto: Riccardo Battisti

First Spanish solar district heating system for 12,000 families

First Spanish solar district heating system for 12,000 families

Carlo Winterscheid2018-10-02T09:27:38+02:00Sep 14th, 2018|

In February 2018, Alcalá Ecoenergías signed a deal to construct a district heating system powered by solar and biomass in Alcalá de Henares, a city in Spain. The agreement between the local company and the municipal government will lead to one of the country’s first-ever large-scale solar district heating systems for supplying 12,000 homes with renewable heat.

The 38 million Euro investment, of which 32 million Euro have been allocated for biomass and 6 million Euro for solar thermal, near Spain’s capital of Madrid is expected to be completed by late 2019. Several other solar district heating projects are under development.

Full article on Solarthermalworld
Text: Alejandro Diego Rosell

Successful training session for Solar District Heating in France

Successful training session for Solar District Heating in France

Carlo Winterscheid2018-10-02T09:12:21+02:00Jul 6th, 2018|

An expert training session has been organized on the 5th and 6th of June 2018 at the French National Institute for Solar Energy. More than 30 participants working in engineering offices, district heating operators, city technical services or project developers took part in this event. Regarding the success of this training, a second session is planned for the end of 2018.

The development of solar district heating is currently experiencing a strong dynamic that continues to accelerate. In Europe, this strong progression was until now carried by Sweden, Germany, Austria, and the inevitable Denmark … but it begins to spread in France!

Commissioned in 2014 in Balma, the first French solar district heating plant has since then been joined by four other installations, which should be followed by three new projects in 2018. With many other projects being considered, France seems to be at the beginning of a strong development of solar district heating.

In order to support this dynamic, the French National Institute for Solar Energy, AURA-Energy Environment and ADEME organized on June 5th and 6th 2018 a training entirely dedicated to solar district heating. This exceptional training brought together international experts with decades of experience, as well as French actors on the initiative of the first national projects. Designed for engineering offices and project developers wishing to build skills on solar heating networks, these two days addressed the theme with a high level of technicality, maintaining a very operational approach.
The seminar addressed technical, administrative and economic issues at different stages of a project: pre-study, sizing, design, implementation, commissioning, operation and maintenance. It has been punctuated with feedback from the Danish, Austrian and French experts and case studies with implementation on a calculation tool.

This training was conducted with the participation of ADEME, AURA-EE, CEA, INES INDDIGO, PlanEnergi, SOLID and Tecsol. It was supported by ADEME and the Horizon 2020 project SDHp2m.

Author: Cédric Paulus, CEA tech/ INES – French National Solar Energy Institute

Arcon-Sunmark built a solar thermal field for Vattenfall in Berlin

Arcon-Sunmark built a solar thermal field for Vattenfall in Berlin

Carlo Winterscheid2018-10-02T08:59:22+02:00Jun 15th, 2018|

The world market leader for solar district heating systems, Arcon-Sunmark, has now installed its first solar thermal system for a German district heating system in Berlin-Köpenick.

The solar plant, which has 78 large collectors has a total gross collector area of 1,058 m², is ground mounted on the premises of the combined heat and power plant of the energy company Vattenfall in Berlin-Köpenick. The collectors feed its energy into the return pipe of the Köpenick district heating system throughout the year using a heat exchanger without a storage tank. With this method the highest solar yield can be fed into the grid, explains Christian Stadler, Managing Director of Arcon-Sunmark’s German representation. Vattenfall had checked a solar feed-in into the supply pipe for the summer months by simulation, but finally rejected, as also the return feed-in had no effects on the efficiency of the connected CHP plant. This is mainly due to the size ratio between the huge district heating system of Berlin-Köpenick and the collector system, which is rather small for the Danish manufacturer’s standards, Stadler reports.

In this way, the system makes a considerable contribution to the district heating demand, especially in the summer, says Stadler: “For us, this system is important because it shows that solar thermal energy also works in the urban district heating of large cities in Germany. And by the way, in 90 percent of the cases – as in this example – we also find a solution for the land problem together with the supplier.”

Text: Guido Bröer, translated from the German original
Picture: Vattenfall

Big Solar Graz – reaching next milestones

Big Solar Graz – reaching next milestones

Carlo Winterscheid2018-10-02T09:03:35+02:00Jun 15th, 2018|

Solid has been developing a concept for supplying up to 25% of district heating of Graz with solar thermal energy and a seasonal storage in late 2015.

Today, the project has developed reaching significant milestones. The land for both, the storage and the solar collectors is secured. The consortium consisting of VKR/Arcon-Sunmark, Energie Steiermark, Christof Industry and initiator Solid has recently announced the project progress to the media.

As per today, the project is designed to be resized to 220,000 m² and will be built as originally intended in the south of Graz. Together with a storage of approximately 900,000 m³ the system will cover 15% of the annual district heating demand of the city of Graz.

The plan is to move on with detailed engineering and permitting within the next months and start the construction in 2019.

Source: Solid

Big Solar Graz erreicht die nächsten Meilensteine

Big Solar Graz erreicht die nächsten Meilensteine

Carlo Winterscheid2018-06-18T17:40:51+02:00Jun 15th, 2018|

Bereits Ende 2015 hat SOLID ein Konzept für die Bereitstellung von bis zu 25% der solaren Fernwärme für Graz durch solarthermische Energie und Saisonspeicher entwickelt.

Bis heute hat das Projekt bereits signifikante Meilensteine erreicht. Landflächen für den Speicher sowie die Solarkollektoren wurden gesichert. Das Konsortium, bestehend aus VKR/ Arcon-Sunmark, Energie Steiermark, der Christof Group und dem Initiator SOLID, verlautbarte kürzlich den Fortschritt gegenüber den Medien.

Mit heutigem Stand wurde das Projekt für eine Größe von 220.000m² ausgelegt und soll wie ursprünglich geplant im Süden von Graz gebaut werden. Zusammen mit der Größe des Speichers von 900.000m³ wird das System 15% des jährlichen Fernwärmeverbrauchs der Stadt Graz abdecken.

In den nächsten Monaten werden die detaillierten Baupläne ausgearbeitet und besprochen. Der Baustart soll im Jahr 2019 erfolgen.

Quelle: SOLID

Arcon baut Solarthermiefeld für Vattenfall in Berlin

Arcon baut Solarthermiefeld für Vattenfall in Berlin

Carlo Winterscheid2018-06-11T18:13:39+02:00Jun 11th, 2018|

Seine erste Solarthermieanlage für ein deutsches Fernwärmenetz hat der Weltmarktführer für netzverbundene Solarwärmesysteme, Arcon-Sunmark, jetzt in Berlin aufgestellt.
Die Anlage, deren 78 Großflächenkollektoren insgesamt knapp 1000 Quadratmeter Aperturfläche messen, stehen auf dem Betriebsgelände des Heizkraftwerks des Energiekonzerns Vattenfall in Berlin Köpenick. Das Kollektorfeld speist seine Energieernte über einen Wärmetauscher ohne Speicher ganzjährig in den Rücklauf des Köpenicker Fernwärmenetzes ein. Mit dieser Methode könne in diesem Fall der höchste Solarertrag dem Netz zugeführt werden, erklärt Christian Stadler, Geschäftsführer der Deutschlandvertretung von Arcon-Sunmark. Vattenfall habe eine Einspeisung in den höher temperierten Vorlauf für die Sommermonate zwar durch Simulationsrechnungen geprüft, aber letztlich verworfen, da auch die Rücklaufeinspeisung auf die Effizienz der angeschlossenen KWK-Aggregate keine negative Auswirkungen habe. Dies liege vor allem am Größenverhältnis zwischen dem riesigen Fernwärmenetz von Berlin-Köpenick und der für die Maßstäbe des dänischen Herstellers eher kleinen Kollektoranlage, berichtet Stadler.
Auf diese Weise liefere die Anlage besonders im Sommer nennenswerte Beiträge zum Fernwärmebedarf, so Stadler: „Für uns ist diese Anlage wichtig, weil sie zeigt, dass Solarthermie auch in den urbanen Netzen von deutschen Großstädten funktioniert. Und übrigens finden wir – wie in diesem Fall – in 90 Prozent der Fälle gemeinsam mit dem Versorger auch eine Lösung für das Flächenproblem.”

Text: Guido Bröer

Foto: Corporate Vattenfall

SDH plant awarded in Sweden

SDH plant awarded in Sweden

Carlo Winterscheid2018-10-15T17:25:09+02:00Apr 25th, 2018|

Ystad Energi was awarded the “Solar prize” for their solar heating plant on Ystad Arena. The plant, with just more than 500 m² of flat plate collectors, is designed to feed solar heat into Ystad district heating system.

The solar plant on Ystad Arena is connected to the primary district heat distribution system via heat exchangers. When the solar collectors generate more heat than needed in the Arena, the solar heat will automatically be used in adjacent buildings via the district heating system, in a similar way as electricity is used in a grid-connected solar PV plant. There are already about 25 systems with 200 to 1 000 m² of solar collectors connected in a similar way during the period from 2000 to 2017.

Svensk Solenergi (Solar Energy Association of Sweden) has awarded good example solar (heat and PV) plants and important achievements in solar energy since 2004. The plant award 2018 was given to Ystad Energi (municipal DH company) thanks to a new system design with improved controls and performance. The new plant in Ystad is thus an inspiring good example for other building owners and district heating companies.

The Award motivation: ”Solar heating plants can be connected in our district heating systems just like solar PV plants are connected in our electric grids. The systems have been developed so that the generated solar heat can be used to improve a district heated buildings energy performance (according to EPBD) and /or so that the generated heat can be sold to other district heating customers. The plant at Ystad Arena, built without financial support, is an excellent example of how solar heat can be used in district heating systems – in a national, as well as an international, context.”

Photo: SavoSolar

About Carlo Winterscheid