Handwerkskammer des Saarlands (hwkds)

The aim of the project is to support the market penetration of small Solar Domestic Hot Water Systems. To achieve this aim a number of steps are considered within this project: - Guarantee quality of components of factory made solar hot water systems by Dynamic System Test (DST) (ISO-DIS 9459,5) - Development of a new training course for installers - Ways of applying the concepts of GRS (Guarantee of Solar Results) to small solar hot water units - Development of a sample contract model for guaranteed solar yields of small systems in cooperation with the local utilities

A more steadily increasing market penetration of solar systems for hot water generation is only achievable, if the consumer can rely on a sort of guarantee for the reliability of the system operation and an expected level of performance. In order to achieve this, some basic requirements have to be fulfilled: A: Guarantee the quality of components of factory made solar hot water systems by Dynamic System Test. (DST) The solar units have to be certified according to ISO 9459 or similar national standards. On that basis the manufacturers must guarantee the reliability of the solar devices. Efficient modern tools to design and size solar systems and evaluate the energy output have to be used. For smaller systems, this can be insured by means of numeric simulations based on dynamic system tests on the whole unit according to the ISO CD 9459/5 for example. For larger units, simulations carried out either from component tests or results from exemplary on site testing can be used. B: Development of a new training course for installers The need for more specialised training for installers has been recognised in several European countries as one important step to support a continuous increase in solar thermal installations. The idea in this project is to offer a course - in cooperation with the chamber of craft industries- which provides special solar thermal information for installers, who are already familiar with standard installations of heating systems. The course comprises the fundamental physical knowledge to understand solar thermal energy conversion, the components of a small solar domestic hot water system as well as planning tools and economical considerations. A special chapter is dedicated to installation faults and their prevention. The course is addressed to clients who are either self employed or employees in fairly small enterprises (up to ten employees). This implies the problem that they do not really feel to have the time for a long course in a field, which they believe to be "more or less" familiar with. Therefore the layout of the course was chosen to be adequate for four evening sessions, each lasting about three hours. Installers who have participated in that course shall be granted a certificate that they can use to advertise their qualification. C: Ways of applying the concepts of GRS (Guarantee of Solar Results) to small solar hot water units For large solar thermal installation the concept of GRS has already been successfully applied. Transferring these ideas to small systems yields two major problems: On the one hand the costs that are necessary for monitoring the system make up a considerable fraction of the total system cost. On the other hand the draw-off profile of a small system with only a limited number of consumers is not as predictable as that of a large system and therefore the accuracy for predicting the solar yield is smaller. An alternative for small systems may be low cost automatic fault detection procedures that are integrated into the control of the unit. In case of malfunctioning an alarm is given to the user who can call the installer. D: Development of a sample contract model for guaranteed solar yields of small systems in cooperation with the local utilities In cooperation with the 'Stadtwerke Saarbrücken' (local utilities) a 'Solar-Service' shall be offered to the consumers in Saarbrücken. The utilities help the customer to arrange the installation of the unit together with a certified installer and inspect the system before it goes into operation. In the operation phase the solar yields are monitored by cheap energy meters and are reported to the utilities every month by the consumer. The utilities evaluate the data and, if necessary, inform the installer.