ANALYSIS OF A NOVEL SOLAR DISTRICT HEATING SYSTEM

Other conference contribution, 2014

This paper describes a new residential building area with a solar assisted block heating plant. The building area currently comprises 26 single family buildings, four small multifamily buildings, 6 terrace houses and a nursing home for elderly people with 64 apartments. All buildings are designed for a low heat demand (<45 kWh a-1 m-2) and the total heated floor area is 14 000 m2. The block heating system comprises a central 250 kW wood pellet boiler, about 700 m2 of distributed roof-integrated solar collectors and a novel heat distribution system. An initial evaluation indicates that designed heat demands, as well as the overall system performance including expected solar contribution, is likely to be met. Reported measurements include annual (April 2013 – March 2014) heat balances for two substations with single family buildings, yearly solar energy gains (August 2013 – July 2014), and a monthly (March 2014) heat balance for the whole system.