Yearly thermal performances of solar heating plants in Denmark – Measured and calculated

The thermal performance of solar collector fields depends mainly on the mean solar collector fluid temperature of the collector field and on the solar radiation. For Danish solar collector fields for district heating the measured yearly thermal performances per collector area varied in the period 2012–2016 between 313 kWh/m2 and 577 kWh/m2, with averages between 411 kWh/m2 and 463 kWh/m2.

The percentage difference between the highest and lowest measured yearly thermal performance is about 84%. Calculated yearly thermal performances of typically designed large solar collector fields at six different locations in Denmark with measured weather data for the years 2002–2010 vary between 405 kWh/m2 collector and 566 kWh/m2 collector, if a mean solar collector fluid temperature of 60 °C is assumed.

This corresponds to a percentage difference between the highest and lowest calculated yearly thermal performance of about 40%. This variation is caused by different weather conditions from year to year and from location to location. Approximately half of the variations of yearly thermal performances can be related to variable weather conditions.