What potential does solar district heating have in Germany?

At the 9th International Conference on Smart Energy Systems in Copenhagen our colleague Eftim Popovski presented the study “THE ROLE OF SOLAR DISTRICT HEAT IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION OF THE GERMAN HEATING SECTOR”. This deals with the role and potential of solar district heating (SDH) in the energy transition in the German heating sector.

By modeling over 8,000 scenarios and conducting spatial analysis to identify suitable areas, the study helps policy makers get an initial idea of the cost and size of an SDH system based on their heating needs. In addition, the study provides additional information on the most influential economic and technical factors.

The results show that the most cost-effective design of the solar district heating system is with solar shares between 11 and 18% and a collector area/storage ratio between 4 and 6.7. With these versions, the electricity production costs for heat fluctuate between 45 and 64 €/MWh. The spatial analysis also shows that the technical-economic potential of solar district heating in Germany is around 17.6 TWh. Finally, the study presents sensitivity analyzes and equations for a preliminary design of SDH.