Assessment for the potential of increasing the renewable energy share into district heating system by integration of decentralized solar assisted heating systems

Abstract

The decrease in conventional energy resources, environmental pollution issues and climate change are the leading factors inducing the increase of energy efficiency criteria’s. Trends to improve energy efficiency are mainly aimed at the construction sector as one of the leading sectors in energy consumption. In the paper are analyzed the performance of the decentralized solar assisted heating systems (SAHS) for climatic conditions in Macedonia in order to assess the possibility to be integrated as part of the district heating system. The analysis is based on a holistic approach, in which the performance of thep SAHS are generally functionally dependent on four factors: (1) the characteristics of each component, (2) the system structure and mutual interactions of the components, (3) the management method and (4) specific energy consumption for heating of the building. The specific analysis is directed toward assessment of the solar fraction of the SAHS as a function of the building energy performance and system heating temperature range. The numerical modeling of the processes occurring in systems is performed with the dynamic simulation software TRNSYS. It is developed dynamic model of the solar combisystem and reference building. The dynamic model contributes in the flexibility of conducting parametric analysis. The obtained results from the parametric analysis are condensed in a general table upon which was performed analysis of system performance.