Swimming halls are very well suited for solar thermal production. Typically, their heat consumption is big and the required temperature level tends to be relatively low. In such cases solar thermal collectors are operating with a very high efficiency.
However, quite often swimming halls are closed some time of the year and summertime closure may mean extra challenges for solar heat supply.
For Hämeenlinna swimming hall Savosolar solved this issue by feeding surplus solar energy in summer to the nearby district heating network. Thus, the solar system is producing heat all days and depending on the swimming hall’s actual heat demand, the facility is either a district heating provider or a consumer.
Ystad Arena is located in the southern Swedish city of Ystad, and is the home arena of Ystad IF HF which is one of the country’s top handball teams. On its roof, 36 collectors from Savosolar were mounted during spring 2017. The system is owned and maintained by the municipality owned energy company Ystad Energi AB, and feeds its district heating network with clean thermal energy. Ystad Energi AB is working towards the goal of becoming fossil fuel free by 2020 and currently produces ca. 160,000 MWh of thermal energy annually, of which 97-99% are based on bio-fuels.
As much as 89% of the thermal energy for the district heating network is produced by four wood chip burners between 3 and 10 MW capacity and the rest is produced from straw, rapeseed, gas and oil. Ystad Energi AB has ca. 1,850 customers, of which ca. 1,300 are single family homes.
With a size over 13,000 m2, this system is the second largest solar heating system in France and the second largest solar thermal system for industrial process heating in Europe. Savosolar has delivered the largest part of the whole solar thermal plant including the solar collector field, civil work, piping and design and delivery of heat exchange station.
Kyotherm and its affiliate Kyotherm Solar are investment companies which specialize in the third-party financing of renewable heat and energy efficiency projects. Kyotherm Solar is selling heat from this system to a malt drying factory, which is operated by Malteries Franco-Suisses.
Savosolar was happy to sign its so far largest delivery contract with Grenaa Varmeværk in 2018. Savosolar’s highly efficient Savo 15 premium collectors are installed right next to an existing solar collector field which had been commissioned in 2014.
In this turn-key project Savosolar acts as the main contractor enlarging the solar fraction of the district heating network. Its operator, Grenaa Varmeværk, is producing about 146,000 MWh of heat per year. By using solar thermal it has managed to keep their customers´ heat price among the lowest in the whole of Denmark.
The new solar field with Savosolar collectors will increase the overall solar yield and ensure lowest energy production costs also in the future.
