Process Heat

37 commercially installed solar thermal systems of between 50 and 500 m² received subsidies in Thailand over the last two years. Nevertheless, the sector shows a lack of professional service to operate these solar systems at an optimum efficiency.
Photo: STA

About 200,000 m² of flat plate and vacuum tube collectors were shipped throughout the US-American market in 2008, according to the annual statistics of the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The annual report was published in January 2010, four months later than announced.
Source: www.eia.doe.gov

Manufacturer of solar thermal technology: So far, Maharishi Solar has been producing flat plate collectors and photovoltaic panels. The company now wants to extend its portfolio by including concentration solar systems to generate steam utilized in industrial production. Photo: Maharishi

This paper was presented at the 2008 International Renewable Energy Storage Conference which took place in Berlin, Germany. In 2003/2004, the German government funded a project undertaken by the German Aerospace Center to test a concrete storage module on the Plataforma Solar de Almeria in Spain.

A follow up project developed by Ed. Züblin AG concentrated on cost reduction, storage capacity and thermal conductivity. The design, construction and test results of the concrete storage test module are presented in this paper.

The Almeria Solar Platform (PSA) is a European test facility center developed by the CIEMAT Spanish Center for Energy, Environment and Technological Research, devoted to the development of concentrating solar technologies in Spain.

This study presented by Soteris Kalogirou from the Higher Technical Institute in Cyprus provides an extensive overview of solar thermal energy, an historical introduction to its use and development, together with a description of the most common types of collectors (flat-plate, compound parabolic, evacuated tube, parabolic trough, fresnel lens, heliostat field collectors (HFC) and parabolic dish) and applications (solar water heating, space heating and cooling, refrigeration, industrial process heat, desalination, solar thermal power, solar furnaces and chemistry applications).

This paper from 1991, funded by the Indian Department of Non-Conventional Energy Sources of the Ministry of Energy in New Delhi, reports the successful use of solar energy for the distillation of alcohol.

In 2004, the consumption of primary energy sources in Chile was still very significant (oil 39%; natural gas 19%; hydroelectricity 18%; coal 10% and wood and other fuels 14%).

Given this high dependence on fossil fuels, the Government of Chile has set a target of supplying 15% of the new electric generating capacity with renewable energy sources between 2006 and 2010. With this in mind, the Chile Energy National Commission commissioned this study in order to help developing a national plan for the promotion of solar thermal energy in Chile.

Generating electric energy apart from the Sun is not only possible through fotovoltage solar panels, but also from heat produced from solar radiation. The technology able to achieve this is called Thermoelectric Solar.

Since 2006, the solar thermal market in the Netherlands has enjoyed an annual growth rate of 20 – 30%. The currently biggest pieces of the pie go to glycol-drainback solar combination systems (<6 m²). The new incentive programme “Duurzame Warmte” (Sustainable Warmth programme) now offers an even greater opportunity for solar thermal installations. As Arthur de Vries, secretary of the association Holland Solar, said: “We expect this market instrument to be a decisive factor in quickly expanding the market for households.”