TVP Solar enables Germany’s district heating to transition to renewable energy

After years of preparation in developing the German market, Danish renewable specialist Aalborg CSP has secured its first order in Sondershausen, Germany. The project was won and developed in close cooperation with the technology and EPC partner, TVP Solar. Switzerland based company, TVP Solar has a unique high vacuum flat collector with yield of more than 500 kWh/m2/yr, even in low irradiance conditions.  As the interest towards Danish district heating technology and optimized integration solutions is growing, TVP’s unique vacuum flat collector technology has secured the first ever project, alongside Aalborg CSP, using Danish district heating technology on German soil, making it a new reality.

Huge market potential

Germany is by far the largest importer of Russian gas, and more than 30% of such gas is used for district heating. “Germany has launched a plan to decarbonize thousands of its district heating networks mainly using solar, and will become one of the largest end-user markets for TVP in the coming years”, explains Gilbert Farina, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at TVP Solar.

TVP is the only solar thermal panel able to supply >80C required temperature by 2nd generation district heat networks even in sub-zero climate, with poor winter sunlight, when it rains or snow. Another unique feature of TVP, is related to the lowest footprint of its installation and lowest land use which is extremely important in view of massive deployments in Germany; given TVP high-vacuum panel super-performance, for the same energy output required TVP would need 40% less land use than competitors.

The overall project in Sondershausen consists of a 6,086 m² construction, based on 3105 vacuum collector panels forming a 4.7 MW solar heating plant, together with the integration unit and thermal storage tank. Final delivery is scheduled in spring 2023.

For the end user Stadtwerke Sondershausen GmbH, the project with Aalborg CSP plays a part in securing their conversion to renewable and green energy (in Germany commonly known as “Energiewende” or “Wärmewende”) A flexible solution securing both the future supply and sustainability of the district heating supply. Stadtwerke Sondershausen GmbH has gotten inspiration from Denmark, their neighbors to the North and is benefitting from the Danish experience of integrating solar heat into the district heating production.

The solar heating system in Sondershausen will besides the 6,086 m2 of TVP Solar collectors, consist of a 1,000 m3 accumulation tank as well a full technology package for integrating the energy into the district heating system. With the new vacuum solar collector, an annual output of over 500 kWh / m2 is achievable, which by far exceeds the output of Danish plants that use traditional solar collectors – despite the higher operating temperatures that are used in Germany.

(Press release / SK)