The size of the solar heating system is over 5,600 m2, it generates over 2 600 MWh of clean energy annually, and is the fourth project of Savosolar for the French market. Savosolar has delivered the largest part of the whole solar thermal plant including the solar collector field, piping, design and delivery of heat exchange station and automation. LFDE subsidiary own and operate the solar heating system and sell heat to ENES Creutzwald, the energy service company of Creutzwald’s municipality, owner of the district heating network.
La Française de l’Énergie (LFDE) is listed on Euronext and leader in low carbon footprint energy production. LFDE produces gas, green electricity and heat in Northern France, Eastern France and in Benelux. Since 2019, LFDE develops photovoltaic and solar thermal projects on the areas where they operate, to reduce the carbon footprint of the final consumers. Through this first solar thermal project, LFDE reaffirms its commitment to the environment by developing renewable energy projects, prioritizing environmental benefits and reducing energy costs.
Lolland forsyning’s district heating plant in Søllested is located on the island of Lolland and was the first installation, where Savosolar’s double glazed collectors were used. The double glazing reduces heat losses through the glass side of collector and offers a higher efficiency, especially at higher operation temperature levels and during the darker months of the year. Søllested district heating plant has ca. 500 customers and also uses a 5 MW straw boiler and an oil burner to produce its heat.
The collector field in Søllested has a so-called hybrid field, with both single and double glazed collectors. The single glazed collectors are in the cold end of the collector rows and increase the low temperature as rapidly as possible, while the double glazed collectors are located in the warm side of the collector rows where it is more important to reduce the heat losses.
In Søllested, Savosolar was faced with a special challenge since the customer’s land has a sewerage pipe running through it. Since the owner of the sewer pipe needs to be able to access it in case of maintenance, Savosolar supplied a collector field which both optimised the use of the available land, while still providing access to the sewer pipe
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.
Savosolar’s first commercial solar cooling system was delivered to a school in Ukraine. The entire school was pre-fabricated in Finland and delivered to Ukraine by Elemenco Oy.
Outside of the cooling period, the solar thermal system produces energy for domestic hot water and space heating needs. During the hot summer time, three adsorption chillers cool the building via the air handling unit. The adsorption chillers, which were delivered by Savosolar, are driven by the solar thermal system.
