Chalmers University of Technology

August 17, 2019
Best practice examples of urban solar projects exceed expectations

Researchers working for the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling programme have created a list of urban solar heat projects that not only met but exceeded the ambitious aims set for them initially: Seven best-practice examples and two scoping studies of systems in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden...
May 9, 2018
How to identify suitable areas for SDH

Though the availability of areas for large solar district heating plants remains a major point of contention, there are ways to expand the market. They include detailed local heat plans, the use of unconventional, e.g., polluted or contaminated, areas, and awareness raising among public and...
April 13, 2018
Sweden: Pioneer of solar district heating

When it comes to district heating, Sweden has made the switch from fossil fuels to biomass and waste heat (see chart). As early as 2015, biomass provided 46 % of the energy in district heating networks across the country, followed by 24 % from waste incineration and 8 % from industrial...
March 18, 2018
Solar thermal and biomass – a winning solution for district heating

Biomass may be cheap and carbon-neutral, but a solar upgrade of biomass-fired district heating could further improve efficiency and reduce local emissions. For example, solar heat helps avoid having to start up and shut down wood-chip boilers or operate them at partial load. It can even...
February 7, 2018
Solar to replace coal in Polish district heating networks

Zbigniew Kamieński, adviser to the president of NFOŚiGW’s board, has recently made some encouraging statements. During the conference Use of renewable energy sources and seasonal heat storage in district heating in Warsaw on 17 January, he said that the proposal of a new subsidy...
October 20, 2017
Sweden’s Solar Heat Market on Hold

The IEA Solar Heating and Cooling (SHC) programme has recently updated its country report on Sweden’s solar thermal industry, pointing out the increasing competition with other energy technologies and the factors exacerbating the...
July 31, 2017
Solar Thermal Shows Highest Energy Yield Per Square Metre

The annual energy yield per square metre is much higher for solar collectors than for other renewable technologies, as the figure on the left shows. Compared to PV, solar collectors produce, on average, three times as many kilowatt-hours. Compared to biomass or bioethanol, output is in...
April 25, 2017
Denmark: Solar District Heating Capacity Nearly Doubles in 2016

Last year was a record-breaking one for new solar district heating (SDH) installations in Denmark. With 31 new SDH systems and 5 plant expansions, the newly installed collector area grew at double the rate of 2015 and totalled 495,226 m² (347 MW_th). The year prior saw 15 plants...
April 5, 2016
Europe: 23 New and Upgraded Solar District Heating Plants of 190 MWth Start Operation in 2015

As in previous years, Denmark remained the country dominating Europe’s solar district heating market. Twenty of the 23 new and upgraded district heating plants in Europe above 350 kW_th (500 m²) from the statistics compiled by Jan-Olof Dalenbäck from the Chalmers University of...
November 18, 2014
Europe: Online Database on Large-Scale Solar Heating Plants

The database on Europe’s largest solar heating plants, which can be found on the EU project SDHplus website, dates back to 1997. In the meantime, it has grown to 131 solar heating plants totalling a collector area of 586,000 m² (410 MW_th). The first plants included...
July 15, 2014
Sweden: New Solar-Heated Residential Area in Vallda Heberg

Solar district heating may still be in its infancy, but more and more projects across Europe are starting to showcase its great potential. Speakers at the second International Solar District Heating Conference, which took place in Hamburg, Germany, on 3 and 4 June 2014, presented and...
June 5, 2014
SDH Conference 2014: “We have to work on lighthouse projects”

On 3 and 4 June 2014, the halls of the old waterworks of municipal utility “Hamburg Energie” in Hamburg, Germany, became the venue for the 2^nd International Solar District Conference. 115 participants from 13 countries and many different backgrounds were offered a...