Dronninglund Solar District Heating Plant in Denmark is now established: 37,000 m² collectors (26 MWth) and 60,000 m3 seasonal storage.
In February 2014, the Dronninglund Solar District Heating Plant will start operation serving the 1,400 connected customers. The collector field together with the seasonal storage will cover around 50% of the total annual heat load.
2,982 large collector modules each 12.5 m² are positioned in series of up to 22 collectors in one row; all together the transparent collector area is 37,275 m². The collector works together with a 60,000 m3 heat storage, gas motors for combined heat and power production (CHP), an absorption heat pump, a biomass boiler and a back-up oil boiler. Due to the large storage, the gas motors will always be able to produce electricity when the electricity price is high – even when there is no heat load (as the storage then can absorb the heat production).
When the plant begins operating the production figures will be available at www.solvarmedata.dk along with the other 33 Danish solar district heating systems. More large systems are underway, for example the expansion of the Gram system from 10,000 m² to 44,000 m² and the expansion of the Vojens system from 17,500 m² to 72,500 m².