Large-scale solar thermal systems are being increasingly used in heating networks. The Steinbeis Research Institute Solites in collaboration with international partner organisations has created a newly designed information service on solar-supported heating networks at www.solare-waermenetze.de. At the heart of the web platform is a database that provides comprehensive technical and economic expert knowledge.

Framework conditions for grid-bound heat supply have changed. Attention is refocussing around increasing renewable energy sources in district heating networks, in particular solar thermal energy. It’s thus no surprise that the number of large-scale solar thermal systems in heating networks is continually rising. Solar thermal energy is thus slowly taking hold in district heating, in particular through the development of new technologies around the centralised and decentralised integration of solar thermal systems in heat supply. Research and development projects concerned with technical supply, cost reduction and operational management of solar-powered heating networks, the integration of thermal storage systems or the flexibilisation of CHP plants, are also being implemented.

The Steinbeis Research Institute Solites has put together a knowledge portal based on its many years of domestic and international project involvement with a wide-ranging scope including technical facts for professionals, the free ScenoCalc designing tool for large-scale solar thermal collector arrays, and information brochures and scientific publications.

The new website is an international, multi-lingual project that involved around 25 partners from 13 countries. The website has its origins in the www.solar-district-heating.eu portal, which has emerged as a centralised focal point over the last ten years for science and the district heating and solar industries on the topic of solar heating networks. It was made possible by funding projects SDHp2m (Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission), Solnet 4.0 of the “EnEff.Gebäude.2050” funding initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Trafo BW funding programme of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector.

(fr)