Application Prospect of Solar Water Heating System with Seasonal Thermal Storage in Rural Area of Northern China

Abstract

In the past few decades, the traditional method of coal-fired heating in rural area of northern China has been exposed many environmental problems. Therefore, as a kind of clean and renewable energy, solar resource has attracted more and more attention. To ensure long-term domestic heating requirement in the countryside, seasonal thermal storage was developed to overcome seasonal variability, the main drawback of solar energy. However, the application prospect of this technology in rural area of northern China still remains to be discussion. This study selected six identical country seats (with 1800m 2 heating area) in Beijing as the model, and from three aspects of climate condition, thermal performance, economic and environmental impact, analyzed the application conditions of solar water heating system with seasonal thermal storage in space heating and domestic hot water. The results show that with 420m 2 solar collectors and 905m 3 seasonal storage tank, the proposed system can meet most demand of space heating and domestic hot water for six buildings, and its equivalent annual cost is acceptable compared to other heating systems despite high one-time cost may become the main problem of its advancement in the countryside of northern China.