Economic Analysis of Community Solar Heating Systems That Use Annual Cycle Thermal Energy Storage

摘要

The economics of community-scale solar systems that incorporate a centralized annual cycle thermal energy storage (ACTES) coupled to a distribution system is examined. Systems were sized for three housing configurations: single-unit dwellings, 10-unit, and 200-unit apartment complexes in 50-, 200-, 400-, and 1000-unit communities in 10 geographic locations in the United States. Thermal energy is stored in large, constructed, underground tanks. Costs were assigned to each component of every system in order to allow calculation of total costs. Results are presented as normalized system costs per unit of heat delivered per building unit. These methods allow: (1) identification of the relative importance of each system component in the overall cost; and (2) identification of the key variables that determine the optimum sizing of a district solar heating system. In more northerly locations, collectors are a larger component of cost. In southern locations, distribution networks are a larger proportion of total cost. Larger, more compact buildings are, in general, less expensive to heat. For the two smaller-scale building configurations, a broad minima in total costs versus system size is often observed. (ERA citation 06:012229)