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home > solar
Over the last few year’s the technologies that convert the solar energy into forms of energy to be used for the production of heat and power have been attracting more and more interest.
The internal frictions, leading to a rise in the price of the fossil fuels, and the awareness of the environmental issues that the latter can cause, are giving new credit to a technology that has been known since the Seventies of the last century, but has never been very successful in the plant engineering sector due to a poor technological knowledge, often associated with incorrect installation and high initial costs.
Figure 1, shows that solar radiation is not evenly available throughout Europe and its intensity in the continental areas is proportionate to the latitude of the countries. Hence the need to have different products and installation methods, depending on the affected geographic area.
The coldest regions need optimised and high-efficiency installation, while the warm areas will need to implement special measures to minimise the undesired effects, e.g. the overheating caused by excessive solar radiation. The components of a solar plant are generally simple to identify and always the same, regardless of the geographic location.
Energy from solar radiation is one of the best known forms of renewable energy. It is free, usually plentiful in supply! and available throughout the year – more in the summer months, less in winter. This energy is usually captured through the installation of solar panel technology.
There are 2 types of panels on the market – those that convert the sun’s radiation into electricity – photovoltaic panels, and ones that use the sun’s energy to heat water for a property.
Within the category of wet or water designed solar panels there are a further 2 types – panels that utilize a vacuum tube system and the other using flat plate technology. Both types are very efficient and don’t necessarily need direct sunlight to work. The advancement of technology in materials and the technology used in the construction of these panels mean that they operate efficiently in diffuse conditions, although strong direct sunlight is obviously the best.
In the UK Encompas recommends the use of flat plate collectors as we feel that in our climatic conditions, these have a slight edge on performance over the vacuum tube technology being more robust, maintenance free and have a longer working life span (25 years).
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Flat plate solar panel collector
- Solar controller
- Hot water tank
A solar pump station is required to move the water around the system transferring energy from one point to another.
The solar pump station is managed by a solar controller which ensures the system gets the best efficiency from the solar panels. It does this by measuring the potential of the solar system to deliver heat and only delivers it if required. These controllers can also be linked to an additional heat source such as a boiler to ensure hot water all year round.
Normally, solar panels are combined with an additional heat source to guarantee consistent performance all year. Solar panels are capable of providing water that is hot enough to provide your domestic hot water requirements.
When used with specialist hot water storage tanks, solar panels can also be used as part of your heating solution.
Encompas can offer the services of design, supply and if required, the installation of solar panel systems to both the domestic and commercial market.
Whether it is for Domestic Hot Water supply only, or a system designed to integrate DHW and an underfloor heating system or indeed a swimming pool system, Encompas can from plans supplied by the client and in discussion having established their needs and preferences ensure that the best system is specified to give years of trouble free use.
Complete set of solar plant components for domestic hot water production. Covers approx. 70% of the hot water requirement.
Complete set of solar plant components for DHW production and heating integrations.
Solar coverage in well-insulated houses : Heating up to 30%, hot water up to 80%
For information on whether planning permission is required for your project click here