Solar heat is penetrating Denmark's district heating networks at an unprecedented speed. Around 90 000m2 of collector area (63 MW) will be newly connected to the country's networks in 2011. High fossil fuel prices make solar heat economically interesting also in other countries.
Green Power was commissioned by Carpe Diem to develop a solar hot water system to heat the school’s 20-year-old swimming pool with 250,000 L water which had been heated electrically before. It was needed to ensure that the pool is heated at a constant 28 °C daily.
The new ReflecTechPLUS called film has a new transparent abrasion protection coating. In every other aspect the silver film has the same features as the preceding model. The specular reflectance of the mirror is 94 % at 25 mrad and 660 nm. The solar-weighted hemispherical reflectance is 93 %.
The hybrid operating system is located at Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA), a centre for research into solar energy utilization. In addition to solar energy, the plant can be operated with alternative fuels.
On the roof of the Stapelton-Spence Packing Company a solar system with an area of over 1,900 m2 has been installed. Full-polymer collectors by the company Fafco preheat the source water by up to 30°. The water is then fed to a gas boiler, which thus requires less energy to achieve the desired temperature.
The international conference SMEThermal will be held in Berlin on 7 February 2012 for the third time already. The one-day event deals explicitly with process optimization, automation and new materials in the tank and collector industry. SMEThermal 2011 was a great success.
Steca Elektronik GmbH has recently received North American authorization for three further solar controllers. The newly approved controllers are the latest generation of solar controllers from the company, which is based in Memmingen, Germany. The new 500-type controllers of the TR series have been kept compact so that they fit well in solar pump stations.
Here you can find a small selection of comprehensive market overvies from the solar thermal sector:
Market Overview: Vacuum Tube Collectors
Market Overview: Flat Plate Collectors
Market Overview: Solar Stations
Photovoltaic Feed