Solar Hot Water Systems and the European Union

Article Written By: mattangelo1985

The European Union and its Member States have committed themselves to achieving a 20% share of renewable energy in Europe s final energy consumption by 2020.

To reach this target, the renewable heating sector will have to make a significant contribution since the demand forsolar hot water heating and cooling represents 49% of the total energy demand in Europe. The SolarBeam Concentrator can be used for solar hot water heating and for general space heating. The SolarBeam is a thermal system; this means that it uses the sun to heat water. Solar thermal systems are excellent to provide thermal heat at low temperatures, below 95 C. The applications for this type of thermal heat are endless, and include the following industries: beverage companies, breweries, wineries, dairy and farm, hotels, government, schools, hospitals, residential etc.

A study was done by European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) In order to provide the European Union and its Member States with substantiated information on the solar thermal contribution to the 20% renewable energy target and its long-term potential. Detailed surveys were conducted using a representative sample of five European countries - Austria, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Spain.

The information gathered was then extrapolated to the 27 EU countries.

To determine the potential contribution solar hot water would make to the overall heat demand in the selected reference countries, a model was developed for the future demand - taking into account also energy efficiency measures. Based on this model, the future heating and cooling demand was calculated for the years 2020, 2030 and 2050.

The model includes three scenarios and focuses on the following segments:

• Space heating of residential buildings

• Hot water preparation in the residential sector

• Space heating in the service sector

• Industrial low temperature heat (up to 250°C)

• Air conditioning and cooling in the residential and service sectors

The three scenarios are a Business As Usual scenario” (BAU), an Advanced Market Deployment scenario” (AMD), including financial and political support mechanisms such as subsidies and obligations, moderate energy efficiency measures and improved research activities, and a Full RandD and Policy scenario” (RDP), which includes substantial financial and political support mechanisms, energy efficiency measures and research activities.

Related to the required 11.5 percentage points increase in renewable energies (the share of renewable in 2005 was 8.5%) in the EU-27 countries by 2020, the contribution of solar thermal would be 12% according to the RDP scenario, 4.5% according to the AMD scenario and 2.9% in the BAU scenario. To reach the goals of the RDP scenario, a 26% average annual growth rate of the European solar thermal market is needed up to 20201. By comparison: The average annual market growth in Europe between 2000 and 2007 was 12.4%

A 15% average annual growth rate is required to reach the goals of the AMD scenario and a 7% growth rate for the BAU scenario. The resulting total collector area by 2020 would be between 97 million m2 (BAU) and 388 million square meters (RDP). These collector areas correspond to total installed capacities of 67.9 GWth and 271.6 GWth.

According to the RDP scenario the impact on employment would be considerable. In total, the solar thermal sector would encompass 470.000 full-time jobs in 2020, in the European Union domestic market alone. An investment of the order of EUR 214 billion would be required in the solar thermal sector to reach the 2020 goals of the RDP scenario. This includes production, engineering, trade and installation of solar thermal systems from 2006 to 2020.

If solar thermal is to contribute significantly to the long-term heating and cooling demand in the EU-27 countries then the primary focus in central and northern Europe must be on systems for space heating (solar combisystems) and in the Mediterranean area on systems providing space heating, hot water and air conditioning (solar combi+ systems).

About the Author

SolarBeam Concentrator by SolarTron Energy Systems is one of the few companies hat can provide solar combi-systems which include solar hot water heating , Solar heating and solar air conditioning.

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