Solar heat in Austria : potentials, regulatory framework and business environment

Abstract

Solar energy is for free and inexhaustible. These seem to be the optimal conditions to solve all the problems of energy supply. The focus of this work is on an existing district heating plant in Trumau, in Lower Austria, based on biomass, which will be analysed and supplemented with solar heat. The local conditions of solar radiation will be described. These conditions are the base of the available solar energy. The solar output, the expected heat demand and the equipment investments will show the economic reasonableness. At the beginning of this master thesis, the natural conditions of solar radiation will be described. In this respect, the special conditions for Austria will be analyced and evaluated. Further on, the current situation in Austrian will be demonstrated. The political goals, the existing guidelines and support mechanisms. In this respect, important questions are: - Where are active solar collectors used? - What kind of technology is mainly used? - What kind of feed systems exist? In order to answer these technological issues, the essential technologies will be described and the differences concerning the diverse applications will be analyced. At the end of this work, the process value will be shown. Also the development of energy costs will be handled and pictured