Bernhard Gerardts
SOLID GmbH
Puchstrasse 85
8020 Graz, Austria
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+43 (0)316 292840-47 |
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info@ip-solar.com |
Is IP-Solar cost-effective?
The current situation
- Manual operational surveillance is time-consuming and expensive
- Example: 20 solar installations are checked by an experienced technician (cost: 60 €/h) twice a week, 15 minutes needed per plant. Running cost per year: more than 30,000 € - considering the working time only.
- This is why solar plant evaluations are usually not performed regularly.
- Also experienced staff misses some failures. Some failures remain undetected for a prolongued time and are very cumbersome in a manual analysis.
- On the contrary, IP-Solar also detects hidden or gradual malfunctions on an early stage, e.g. slow pressure decrease or gradual accumulation of sludge in a heat exchanger.
The economic potential of IP-Solar - 3 scenarios
scenario 1 |
Aussumption: IP-Solar leads to a 2% energy output increase in large solar plants 280,000 m² × 2% × 350 kWh/m²year = 980 MWh |
scenario 2 |
Assumption: 5% of large solar plants break down for one year 280,000 m² × 5% × 350 kWh/m² = 4,900 MWh |
scenario 3 |
Assumption: Average system failure on a single summer day 280,000 m² × 3.1 kWh/m²Tag × 50% = 434 MWh |
Assumptions used in the calculation
- In Austria, there is a total collector area of 280,000 m² installed in large solar plants. What is this figure based on?
- Typical specific energy yield per year: 350 kWh/m² collector area.
- Typical cost of supplied solar thermal energy: 50 €/MWh
- Typical specific energy yield on a clear summer day: 3.1 kWh/m² collector area
