District heating heats up about 90% of apartment buildings in Sweden and solar heat can be used to reduce both fuel and carbon dioxide costs.
The solar collector installation of Absolicon will be the first large-scale example of solar heat in Swedish district heating in 20 years and also serves as a demonstration facility where interested people from all over the world can come to study the possibilities of concentrating solar heat.
Högslätten 2023 Solar Thermal Park is on one hectare. When completed the park will be 1.5 MW solar collectors, an aperture area of 3000 m2.
The solar collector park is constructed using Absolicon’s patented technology for modern concentrating solar thermal, allowing higher system temperatures and efficiency levels for district heating.
To cope with the high temperatures required in Swedish district heating networks, Absolicon’s solar collectors are equipped with a silver mirror that concentrates the light in a narrow line on a receiver pipe filled with pressurized water. The sun collectors follow the sun during the day and retain the heat under a protective glass. The solar collectors are designed for temperatures up to 160 degrees and provide up to the 120 degrees required in the district heating network.
Absolicon solar collectors are the first of their kind to be certified according to the Solar Keymark quality standard and have the highest measured efficiency ever for a concentrating medium solar collector.
Used solar heat for ten years
Absolicon already has two installations in the local energy company HEMAB’s energy park, one connected to the return line and one system connected to the feed pipe.
The first solar installation turns ten years old while increasing the share of solar heat in the district heating network with heat from the new installation.
“As an energy company, we have high demands both in terms of sustainability and competitiveness for the district heating we supply Härnösand with. During the ten years we have collaborated with Absolicon, we have seen that they can provide technology that meets our requirements,” says Jonatan Grip, Development Manager at HEMAB.
HÖGSLÄTTEN 2023 SOLAR THERMAL PARK
Technology: Absolicon T160 Solar collector
Field area: One hectare
Aperture area: 3,000 m2
Power: 1.5 MW
Energy production: 1,000,000 kWh heat/year
Temperature: 73 -120 oC
Högslätten 2023 Solar Thermal Park is carried out in two phases. The first phase, which was put into operation in September 2021, consists of approximately 1000 m2 of solar collectors and a technology building for visits and integration with the district heating network. The entire park is due to be completed in 2023. The project is financed by Absolicon Solar Collector AB together with the Swedish Energy Agency.
