Central solar heating is the provision ofcentral heating andhot water fromsolar energy by a system in which the water is heated centrally by arrays ofsolar thermal collectors (central solar heating plants - CSHPs) and distributed throughdistrict heating pipe networks (or 'block heating' systems in the case of smaller installations).

For block systems, the solar collectors are typically mounted on the building roof tops. For district heating systems the collectors may instead be installed on the ground.

Central solar heating can involve large-scalethermal storage, scaling from diurnal storage toseasonal thermal energy storage (STES). Thermal storage increase thesolar fraction - the ratio between solar energy gain to the total energy demand in the system - for solar thermal systems. Ideally, the aim for applying seasonal storage is to store solar energy collected in the summer time to the winter month.

Compared to small solar heating systems (solar combisystems), central solar heating systems have better price-performance ratios due to the lower installation price, the higherthermal efficiency and less maintenance. In some countries such asDenmark large-scale solar district heating plants are financially fully competitive to other forms of heat generation.^[1]

Central solar systems can also be used forsolar cooling in the form ofdistrict cooling. In this case, the overall efficiency is high due to the high correlation between the energy demand and the solar radiation.

Source: Jan Erik Nielsen, PlanEnergi, DK.

Hereafter you find a plant in Rise (DK) with a new collector producer, Marstal VVS (DK), a plant in Ry (DK), one of the oldest in Europe, a plant in Hamburg and a number of plants below 3,000 m². It may be relevant mentioning, that the island of Ærø in Denmark has three of the major CSHP, Marstal, Ærøskøping and Rise.

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The history of CSHP given here is mainly a Nordic-European perspective on the topic.

Sweden has played a major role in the development of large-scale solar heating. According to (Dalenbäck, J-O., 1993), the first steps were taken in the early seventies inLinköping, Sweden, followed by a mature revision in 1983 inLyckebo, Sweden. Inspired by this work,Finland developed its first plant inKerava, and theNetherlands built a first plant inGroningen. These plants are reported under theInternational Energy Agency by (Dalenbäck, J-O., 1990). Note that these plants did already combine CSHPs with large-scale thermal storage.

The first large-scale solar collector fields were made on-site inTorvalle, Sweden, 1982, 2000 m² andMalung, Sweden, 640 m². Prefabricated collector arrays were introduced inNykvarn, Sweden, 4000 m² in 1985. There was from the beginning a strong international perspective and cooperation within this research field, through investigation with the European Communities (Dalenbäck, J-O., 1995) and the International Energy Agency (Dalenbäck, J-O., 1990). Denmark did enter this research area parallel to the Swedish activities with a plant inVester Nebel in 1987, one plant inSaltum in 1988 and one inRy in 1989, taking over the know-how for prefabricated solar collectors of large size by the Swedish company Teknoterm by the dominating company ARCON, Denmark. In the later 1990sGermany andSwitzerland were active among others with plants inStuttgart andChemnitz.

Due to cheap land prices, in the Nordic countries new collector arrays are ground-mounted (concrete foundations orpile-driven steel) in suitable areas (low-yield agricultural, industry etc.). Countries with high ground prices tend to place solar collectors on building roofs, following the 'block plant' variant of CSHPs. In Northern Europe, 20% solar heat of annual heating requirement is the economic optimum in a district heating plant when using above-ground storage tanks. If pond storage is used, the solar contribution can reach 50%.^[58]

By 1999 40 CSHPs were in operation inEurope generating about 30MW of thermal power[1]^{[permanent dead link]}.

Central solar heating is a sub-class of 'large-scale solar heating' systems - a term applied to systems with solar collector areas greater than 500 m².

Aquifers, boreholes and artificial ponds (costing €30/m³) are used as heat storage (up to 90% efficient) in some central solar heating plants, which later extract the heat (similar to ground storage) via a large heat pump to supply district heating.^[59][60] Some of these are listed in the table above.

InAlberta, Canada theDrake Landing Solar Community has achieved a world record 97% annual solar fraction for heating needs, using solar-thermal panels on the garage roofs and thermal storage in aborehole cluster.^[61][62][63]

• District heating
• Solar heating
• Solar cooling
• Solar combisystem
• Solar thermal energy
• District cooling
• Renewable energy

• Solar District Heating in Europe: Large Scale Solar Heating Systems for Housing Developments^{[permanent dead link]}
• European Large-Scale Solar Heating Network Thermie Project
• The European Large-Scale Solar Heating Network's former Homepage
• 17.081 m2 CSHP at Ærø, Denmark
• CSHP with an aquifer thermal energy store, Rostock, Germany
• CSHPs in Germany
• Ranking List of European Large Scale Solar Heating Plants
• Current data on Danish solar heat plantsArchived 2016-12-23 at theWayback Machine

• Nicolas Perez-Mora et al.:Solar district heating and cooling: A review.International Journal of Energy Research 42, 4, 2018, 1419-1441doi:10.1002/er.3888.
• Central Solar Heating Plants with Seasonal Storage: A Status Report,ISBN 91-540-5201-7, Swedish Council for Building Research, June 1990[2].

• Solar architecture
• Solar thermal energy
• District heating

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