Breaking New Ground: Insights from a Landmark Study on Solar Process Heat Economics

Recording of Thursday, May 08, 2025 | The smarter E Europe Exhibition Program 2025 | Exhibition Program | Language: English | Duration: 14:08 .

Fraunhofer ISE and BSW Unveil Study on Economics of Solar Heat Integration in German Industrial Processes

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, in collaboration with the BSW and German Energy Agency, conducted a study on the economics of solar heat integration processes (SHIP) within Germany. This research aimed to evaluate potential applications under varying weather conditions across three sites: Bremen, Würzburg, and Lindenberg. The study focused on process heat demands at different temperatures using technologies like flat plate collectors, evacuated tubes, and parabolic trough systems. It considered economic factors such as CO2 costs from the Ariadne project and used dynamic simulations via ColSim software to model over 6,000 system configurations for optimal results. Economic evaluations were based on net present value comparisons between these solar solutions against conventional natural gas boilers—both with and without incentives available in Germany. Results indicated that hybrid systems incorporating solar energy could achieve significant cost savings compared to traditional methods; particularly when achieving higher shares of renewable input where levelized costs are consistently lower than those relying solely on fossil fuels.

_{Automated summarization by AI Conver}

Speaker

Dr. Gregor Bern
Head of Group Concentrating Systems and Technologies
Fraunhofer ISE

Talk of session: Rethinking Heat - Solar Utility Scale Plants for Process Heat and District Heating

With the share of renewable energies in the heating sector remaining low, the heating transition is one of the major challenges on the way towards climate neutrality. Particularly in industry, where high temperatures are needed and cost pressure is high, reconciling profitability and decarbonization is an issue. Large solar thermal installations are on the rise in heating networks.This session will be discussing the potential of solar thermal technology, successful projects and current market developments. Presenters will provide exciting insights into applications, financing models and a glimpse into the future.

Further Talks of this session: