Guidelines on community-led heating and cooling

Heating and cooling technologies

Solar thermal energy

According to the European Commission’s meta-analysis on heating and cooling (H&C), solar thermal installations were rated as the cheapest solutions and were perceived as the heating option with the lowest price risk. This was true for the residential sector, as well as the industrial, and public sectors.

Citizen-owned solar thermal installations are therefore a no-regret solution in the achievement of decarbonised H&C. Solar thermal energy provide cities, towns, and communities of every size with clean heat, covering up to 100% of summer load, and include the possibility of combining them with other renewable H&C sources. Some solar thermal installations can convert the sun’s energy into heat and electricity through PVT panels.

 

Example

The residential area of Duinwijck in Vlieland, the Netherlands, is using solar thermal energy installations (i.e. solar thermal collectors) and thermal energy storage to rid the community of gas.

The local energy community captures the heat and immediately supplies it to the neighbourhood when there is demand, the excess heat is then stored in an underground basin with 2 million litres of water, heated to a maximum of 90C. In winter, this thermal energy is harvested again and distributed to the citizens via a heat network, in a perfectly circular and renewable process. Citizens, municipalities, and the Urgenda Foundation all participate in the project so that the inhabitants of this town can live gas-free.

 

Does your energy community use solar thermal energy, and you would like to see it in these Digital Guidelines? Send an email to info@energycommunityplatform.eu.