Energies (May 2021)

Field Study on the Thermal Performance of Vacuum Tube Solar Collectors in the Climate Conditions of Western Norway

  • Victoria Popsueva,
  • Andrés Franklin Olivares Lopez,
  • Anna Kosinska,
  • Oleg Nikolaev,
  • Boris V. Balakin

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/en14102745
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 10
p. 2745

Abstract

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A significant part of energy consumption in Northern countries goes to heating. There is no consensus about the most efficient source of renewable heat there. This paper presents a field study for a 7.8 m2 vacuum tube solar collector facility that is conservatively located in the cloudy and cold climate conditions of western Norway. We analyse a year-long operation by examining the rig’s statistics. We show that in Nordic latitudes with rainy climate conditions, a domestic solar hot water system can produce 2200 kWhth/y at a thermal efficiency of up to 72%. The average amount of heat produced by the collectors was up to 14.7 kWhth/d. This was enough to sustain the domestic hot water demand in an average Norwegian household for 6 months with a short period of auxiliary heating. In conclusion, we calculated that a 3× upscaled area facility would deliver over 25 kWhth covering six months of total heat consumption. The payback period for the facility is 12 years.

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