Solar Thermal Collectors
RENEWABLE & ALTERNATIVE
ENERGY SOURCES
Introduction
Solar thermal collectors can generate heating energy and hot water from solar energy. However, the delivered power strongly depends on the weather conditions. Therefore, with flat plate collectors and evacuated tube collectors, we cannot supply the total heating energy demand of a building. The efficiency of this technology is between 30-70% (or worse in case of flat plate collectors), thus, it is used as additional facilities run by solar power.
Description
Nowadays, solar thermal collectors are not amongst the state-of the-art technologies, but they still have obvious benefits compared to fossil fuels. The average lifetime of these collectors is around 25-30 years with warranties for 10-15 years in general. The installed systems have almost zero maintenance cost, however, it is required to check the systems after 1-3-10 years.
Solar thermal collectors are installed on the roof of the buildings, the planned capacity depends on the purpose of energy production and the average consumption of the building.
The collectors can be installed easily within a few weeks after the on-the-spot assessment noting that the planning phase can take longer time compared to solar panels, and unexpected challenges can also occur.
Solar thermal collectors installed in the city can reduce greenhouse gas emission in urban areas significantly, but the old collectors must be collected separately and re-used taking into account appropriate waste management which is a challenge for the near future.
Further Information
