Warm water preparation in Gatciems

Warm water preparation in Gatciems

Realized: August 2011

System: Thermo|Solar 4 pcs. flat solar collectors TS300, solar boiler 300 liters, other system elements.

For a private house in Gātciems, solar collectors provide hot water needs, which until now were provided by a diesel heating boiler.

With solar collectors, it will be possible to fully provide water in the warm, sunny months, but the rest of the time the water will be heated and the remaining temperature will be heated to the required level by a diesel boiler. The solar boiler is additionally connected to the existing Buderus conventional boiler, thus increasing the capacity of the storage tank.

The project was implemented by participating in the 1st round of the tender "Use of Renewable Energy Resources in the Household Sector" organized by CCFI.

It is too early to judge the real payback of the system, but in order to obtain semi-real data, we performed a computer simulation that shows the approximate operation of the system.

Computer simulation using mathematical methods calculates the efficiency of the connection and location of the specific system during the year, taking into account the previously observed meteorological information and our settings: daily consumption at a temperature of 250 liters +50 degrees. Weather changes are calculated at 6-minute intervals daily.

The results of the computer simulation are as follows:

  1. 361,7 liters of diesel fuel saved per year thanks to solar collectors;
  2. Energy produced by solar collectors 3089.27 kWh;
  3. Solar energy investment in hot water preparation: 2548.49kWh per year. 

With the price of heating fuel (2011) 0.54 Ls / liter (0.77 EUR / liter) (with VAT) and the annual increase in energy prices by 10% / year, the owner's investment will pay off in 8 years.