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Solar heating technologies hold a significant potential to supplement or replace the fossil fuel-driven heating systems in residential and industrial applications. This paper presents a techno-economic study aiming to assess the use of Unglazed Transpired Solar Collectors (UTSC) coupled with an energy system assisted by Exhaust Air Heat Pump (EAHP) in cold climates applied to a residential building cluster. The performance of the system and its components is assessed for different sizes of solar collector field. In addition, a rule-based algorithm is developed to manage the airflow into the UTSC, and a comparative analysis is carried out with conventional flow control. The existing EAHP assisted energy system of a multifamily building cluster in Sweden is modelled by using a simulation software TRNSYS, and the effects of the UTSCs integration on the performances of the energy system are evaluated. Results show that the integration of UTSCs has a small but positive impact on the overall system performance. Moreover, the developed control based on the variation of the collector airflow rate for UTSC is an effective control strategy to increase the seasonal performance factor of the overall system and to maximize the savings.

Decarbonising industrial heat is a significant challenge due to various factors such as the slow transition to renewable technologies and insufficient awareness of their availability. The effectiveness of commercially available renewable heating systems is not well defined in terms of techno-economic boundaries. This study presents a techno-economic assessment of a novel system designed for steam production at a food and beverage plant. The proposed system is combines parabolic trough collectors with pressurized water thermal storage and photovoltaic-driven high-temperature sand storage. The technological components within the hybrid system complements each other both economically and practically, resulting in cost and land area savings. To evaluate the proposed system, simulations were performed using a model developed in TRNSYS and Python. The combined system exhibits better economic and land use performance than when these technologies are used individually. Specifically, the system has a high solar fraction of 90% while remaining competitive with the existing boiler fuel cost. The study emphasizes the importance of multi-technology approaches in developing practical solutions for industrial heat decarbonization. The findings can guide industries in a transition to sustainable heat sources and contribute to global efforts in mitigating climate change.

A 5th generation district heating (5GDH) system consists of a low-temperature network used as a heat source for de-centralized heat pumps to serve heating demand. Until now, there is a lack of studies looking into the economic aspect of implementing the 5GDH concept. The performance characteristics, system dynamics, and economic feasibility of the 5GDH system are insufficiently investigated in cold climates. This paper aims to bridge the research gap by performing the techno-economic analysis of a 5GDH system using a case study based in Tallinn, Estonia. A detailed thermo-hydraulic simulation model is constructed in TRNSYS and Fluidit Heat. In addition, the uncertainty and sensitivities on the economic performance are analysed using Monte Carlo method implemented in Python. The study further analyses the effectiveness of using solar power technologies in reducing the cost of heating. For designed boundary conditions, the system can deliver heat at levelised cost of heating (LCOH) of 80 euro/MWh. Integration of photovoltaic up to a limited capacity results in 1 % reduction when compared to the base case LCOH. The economic benefit of photovoltaic thermal is lower compared to photovoltaic. This study can provide a benchmark for the application of 5GDH systems in heating dominated regions.

Industrial heat production is responsible for around 20% of total greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. To achieve the climate change goals defined in the Paris Climate Agreement, the EU commission has shifted its focus on sustainable means to generate heating. Moreover, global dependencies are leading to a re-organization of natural gas supplies. Therefore, there is a need for less vulnerable and less price-volatile solutions for heating. This paper focuses on two decarbonization technologies for industrial process heat supply: a) electricity-driven steam-generating high-temperature heat pumps (HTHP), a technology that is more efficient than fossil fuel boilers in generating steam, and b) solar parabolic trough collector (PTC), which can produce heat economically and at a minimal carbon footprint compared to other technologies. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the levelized cost of heat (LCOH) of these technologies to fulfill a comparative techno-economic analysis. A maximum PTC collector's solar fraction limit (SFlimit) is defined to indicate when the LCOH for these two technologies is equal. This allows for distinguishing between the economic stronghold of each technology. The evaluation is carried out through the annual energy simulations using TRNSYS and Excel spreadsheets for HTHPs, while TRNSED and OCTAVE are used for the solar thermal part. Boundary conditions for European geographical constraints have been applied to establish use cases for the analysis. The result shows that the design of a PTC system with optimal SF can reach cost parity with HTHP for most of the analyzed locations. The developed methodology serves as a valuable guide to quickly determine a preferred lower carbon heat solution, thus easing the decision-making for industries.

This paper presents a method to evaluate the compatibility of solar thermal integration in an industrial process. Two indicators are introduced to quantify comprehensively all the financial and technical boundaries that influence on the design choices and on the costs of a solar thermal integration. Both indicators are measures of the divergence of an integration from a fictive (yet technically possible) ideal case and a “do-nothing” case. In this way, the incompatibilities of the integration are associated to the consequences that the non-ideal factors have on both costs and performance. Moreover, the value of the indicators is normalized between a minimum and a maximum being the “do-nothing” and the ideal cases respectively. This method is then used to compare the pros and cons of two different solar thermal integration approaches (hot water vs steam) to a beer brewery in southern Europe. The results show that retrofitting part of the existing appliance to be fed with hot water rather than steam enhances the compatibility of solar thermal with the brewery.