Standardisation of Solar Process Heat Applications to Increase Market Penetration
Abstract
Based on the necessity to decarbonize future energy systems, the market uptake of solar process heat has to be accelerated. Currently, the market development is underwhelming, not only in Germany. However, numerous solar process heat plants have been realized, focusing on a few specific applications outside the traditional industry sector. These applications, namely rearing of animals, cleaning of vehicles and drying of biomass cover approx. two third of the German solar process heat market. Since Industry is often characterised by slow hierarchal decision structures, near-term planning horizons, and short payback times it seems promising to standardize the named popular applications outside the traditional industry sector and therefore, accelerate the market development and increase the visibility of solar process heat. Based on the evaluation of planning documents from 174 solar process heat plants, standardized systems concepts for the three applications were developed including hydraulic, key facts for dimensioning of collector area and storage as well as typical turn-key costs. These concepts will enable the market entry of new solar project developers and installers and therefore help to develop the large potential of low hanging fruits in the short term and for solar process heat in general.