Solar Water Heating

Project Analysis
Clean Energy Project Analysis Course

Glazed Flat Plate Collectors, Ontario, Canada

Photo Credit: NRCan

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.

Objectives

• Review basics of
Solar Water Heating (SWH) systems

• Illustrate key considerations for

SWH project analysis

• Introduce RETScreen® SWH Project Model

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.

What do SWH systems
provide?
Conference Centre, Bethel, Lesotho

• Domestic Hot
Water
• Process Heat
• Swimming Pool
Heating Photo Credit: Vadim Belotserkovsky

Housing Development, Kungsbacka, Sweden

…but also…

 Increased hot water

storage
 Extended swimming
season (pool heating)
Photo Credit: Alpo Winberg/ Solar Energy Association of Sweden

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.

Components of SWH Systems

Photo Credit: NRCan

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.
Unglazed Solar Collectors

• Low cost
• Low temperature
• Rugged
• Lightweight
• Seasonal pool
heating
• Low pressure
Photo Credit: NRCan

• Poor performance in cold or windy weather

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.

Glazed Flat Plate Solar
Collectors

• Moderate cost

• Higher
temperature
operation

• Can operate at
mains water
pressure

• Heavier and more

fragile
Photo Credit: NRCan

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.

Evacuated Tube Collectors

• Higher cost
• No convection losses
• High temperature
• Cold climates
• Fragile
• Installation
can be more Photo Credit: NRCan

complicated

• Snow is less of
Tube Developed and Manufactured in China
a problem Photo Credit:
Nautilus

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.

Solar Water Heating in Various
Climates

• For a domestic solar water heating system with 6 m2 of glazed

collector, a demand of 300 L/day of hot water at 60ºC and
300 L of storage, the solar fraction is:

21% in Tromsø, Norway (70ºN) 81% in Matam, Senegal (16ºN)

40% in Yellowknife, Canada (62ºN) 59% in Puerto Limón, Costa Rica
32% in Warsaw, Poland (52ºN) (10ºN)

51% in Harbin, China (46ºN) 59% in Jakarta, Indonesia (6ºS)

67% in Sacramento, USA (39ºN) 86% in Huancayo, Peru (12ºS)

39% in Tokyo, Japan (36ºN) 69% in Harare, Zimbabwe (18ºS)

78% in Marrakech, Morocco (32ºN) 65% in Sydney, Australia (34ºS)

75% in Be’er-Sheva, Israel (31ºN) 39% in Punta Arenas, Chile (53ºS)

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.

Examples of SWH System
Costs and Benefits

Electricity @ $0.15/kWh
Electricity @ $0.05/kWh
100 Glazed year-round system
Gas @ $0.15/m3

Gas @ $0.50/m3
90 (w/storage)
Annual Savings ($/m )
2

80
70
60 La Paz, Bolivia
50
2.2 GJ/m2
40
30 $400/m2
20
10
0
5 15 25 35 45
Evacuated tube year-round
Cost of energy ($/GJ) system
(w/storage)
Unglazed summer-only swimming
pool Copenhagen, Denmark
1.8 GJ/m2
Montreal, Canada $1,000/m2
1.5 GJ/m2
$150/m2
© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.
Solar Water Heating Project
Considerations

• Factors for successful projects:

 Large demand for hot water to reduce importance of fixed costs

 High energy costs (e.g. natural gas not available)

 No reliable conventional energy supply

 Strong environmental interest by building owner/operator

• Daytime hot water loads require less storage

• Lower cost, seasonal systems can be financially preferable
to higher-cost year-round systems

• Maintenance similar to any plumbing system, but operator

must be committed to timely maintenance and repairs

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.

 Examples: Australia, Botswana and Sweden
Domestic Hot Water Systems

Thermosiphon System, Australia

• On-grid, need a committed homeowner
 Can have long payback when energy prices are low
 Systems provide 20 to 80% of hot water

• Off-grid or where the energy supply is unreliable

Photo Credit: The Australian Greenhouse Office

Homes, Malmö, Sweden House for Medical Staff in Rural Area, Botswana

Photo Credit: Marie Andrén, Solar Energy Association of Sweden Photo Credit: Vadim Belotserkovsky
© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.
Examples: USA and Canada
Swimming Pool Systems

• Low-cost unglazed collectors Pool system, Canada

 Summer pools in cold climates

 Extend the season in warm climates
 For summer use on a year-round pool in
cold climates
 Can have 1 to 5-year paybacks

• Glazed collectors for heat year-

round
• Filtration system serves as pump
Community Pool System, Ontario, Canada

Photo Credit: Aquatherm Industries/ NREL Pix

Photo Credit: NRCan

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.
 Examples: Greece and Canada
Commercial/Industrial Hot Water Systems

• Hotels/motels, apartments and office buildings

• Health centres & hospitals
• Car washes, laundromats, restaurants
• Sport facilities, schools, shower facilities
• Aquaculture, other small industry
Hotel, Agio Nikolaos, Crete Aquaculture Operation, British Columbia, Canada

Photo Credit: Regional Energy Agency of Crete/ISES Photo Credit: NRCan

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.
RETScreen® Solar Water
Heating Project Model
• World-wide analysis of energy production, life-cycle costs
and greenhouse gas emissions reductions
 Glazed, unglazed, and evacuated tube
 Indoor and outdoor swimming pools
(w/ or w/o cover)
 Service hot water systems
(w/ and w/o storage)

• Only 12 points of data for RETScreen ®

vs. 8,760 for hourly simulation models

• Currently not covered:

 Changes in service hot water daily loads

 Stand-alone service hot water
 Systems w/o storage having
high solar fractions
 Sun tracking, concentrator & integrated solar collectors
© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.
RETScreen®
SWH Energy Calculation

See e-Textbook

Clean Energy Project Analysis:

RETScreen® Engineering and Cases

Solar Water Heating Project Analysis Chapter

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.

Example Validation of the
RETScreen® SWH Project Model

RETScreen® compared to:

RETScreen WATSUN Diff.
• WATSUN for domestic
hot water system in Toronto, Incident radiation (GJ) 24.34 24.79 -1.8%
Canada:
Load (GJ) 19.64 19.73 -0.5%
Energy delivered (GJ) 8.02 8.01 0.1%
Pump run time (h) 1,874 1,800 4.1%

3000
• ENERPOOL for 48-m2
RETScreen predicted annual solar energy delivered

2500
summer pool in Montreal,
Canada
2000  Energy required to within
2%
(kWh)

1500

RETScreen vs. monitored • Monitored data from a

1000
data from 10 domestic hot 1,200 m2 summer pool in
water systems in Guelph, Möhringen, Germany
500 Canada
500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Measured annual solar energy delivered (kWh)
3000
 Energy required to within
3% and solar energy
production
© Ministerto within
of Natural 14%
Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.
Conclusions

• Unglazed, glazed and evacuated tube collectors provide hot water for
many uses in any climate

• Significant hot water demand, high energy costs, and strong

commitment on part of owner/operator are important factors in success

• RETScreen® calculates:
 Service hot water load and swimming pool load

 Performance of solar swimming pool and service hot water systems with or without
storage

• RETScreen is an annual analysis with monthly resource calculation that

®

can achieve accuracy comparable to hourly simulation models

• RETScreen can provide significant preliminary feasibility study cost

®

savings

© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.

Questions?

Solar Water Heating Project Analysis Module

RETScreen® International Clean Energy Project Analysis Course

For further information please visit the RETScreen Website at

www.retscreen.net
© Minister of Natural Resources Canada 2001 – 2004.