Renewable Energy 29 (2004) 15491556 www.elsevier.

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Technical note

Solar thermal utilization in China

Chaofeng Xiao, Huilong Luo, Runsheng Tang , Hao Zhong1
Solar Energy Research Institute, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650092, China Received 26 November 2003; accepted 25 January 2004

Abstract With the rapid development of the Chinese economy, energy consumption has increased considerably, and this has increased pressure on energy production. On the other hand, this pressure has greatly assisted in the development of the renewable energy in the past two decades. This paper reports the latest developments in the solar thermal utilization in China. A great deal of successful examples of solar thermal utilization are presented. Issues of most concern and interest, which are resisting a further development of solar thermal utilization, have been identied and discussed. A prediction for the prospect of solar energy thermal utilization in China is also presented. # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Solar energy; Thermal utilization; China

1. Introduction China is a developing country with a rapid growth of economy and energy consumption. Currently, coal supplies about 75% of the total energy consumption, and this level of energy consumption causes a series of environmental pollution. Furthermore, with the increase in energy demand, the issue of energy shortage becomes increasingly serious. In most of rural areas, energy source mainly comes from bush, hay and even forest, and have led to severe environmental and ecological consequences. On the other hand, China has abundant solar resources. More than two-thirds of areas in China receive annual total radiation above 586 kJ/cm2 with more than 2200 h of sunshine. Solar energy thermal technologies have a great potential market in China.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-871-5518-598; fax: +86-871-5151-719. E-mail address: kingtang@public.km.yn.cn (R. Tang). 1 This work was equally shared.

0960-1481/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2004.01.015

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Solar energy thermal utilization technologies started in the early 1970s in China. Due to the pressure from energy shortage and environmental pollution, solar energy thermal technologies in China have been rapidly developed. The aim of the present paper is to brief the updated development of the solar thermal utilization technologies, successful examples of their applications and prospect of their potential market in China.

2. The state-of-the-art of solar thermal technology in China In China, the solar thermal utilizations are mainly centralized on the medium and low temperature thermal applications. The main applications include solar water heating, building heating, solar drying, solar refrigeration systems and photovoltaic devices. 2.1. Solar water heaters To date, solar water heating is a dominant and widespread solar thermal application in China. Since 1980, the utilization of solar water heaters has been rapidly expanded with an annual average growth of 30%. By the end of 2001, a total of 320 million m2 of solar water collectors has been put into use nationwide [1]. Three types of solar water heaters dominate the market: batch, at-plate, and the all-glass vacuum tube. The market shares of dierent solar water heaters are listed in Table 1, and their corresponding main technical parameters are listed in Table 2 [2]. Currently, solar water heaters have accounted for about 10% market of the water heating devices. In some areas with abundant solar resource, the market share of solar heaters is greatly higher than that of electric water heater. A typical example of use of a solar water heater is that of Kunming, Yunnan Province, where almost all residential buildings are equipped with solar water heaters (shown in Fig. 1), a site climatically characterized by no cold months and abundant solar radiation. It is estimated that each square meter of solar water collector can save v the use of 100150 kg of coal annually for water heating from 4060 C. The wide use of solar water heaters is an eective way to reduce the pressure resulting from energy shortage and environmental pollution. In order to speed up the popularization of solar water heaters, many universities and institutes studied the integration of solar water heaters into buildings. Given the nancial support from the government at all levels, this research has made considerable progress. Some illustrative buildings with integrated solar water heaters
Table 1 Market shares of the main types of solar water heaters Year 1999 2000 Batch (106 m2) 5.8 6.1 Flat-plate (106 m2) 15.8 15.3 Vacuum tube (106 m2) 26.4 39.6

C. Xiao et al. / Renewable Energy 29 (2004) 15491556 Table 2 Characteristic parameters of the main types of solar water heaters Type Batch Flat-plate Vacuum-tube
a

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Volume (l/m2)a 60 6080 6080

Daily average eciency (%) 40-60 4560 5060

Outlet temperature( C) 40-60 4070 4080

Under conditions of 5 KWh thermal input per day.

have been put into practice. In Mongzhi residential zone of Kunming, Yunnan Province, solar water heaters integrated into buildings (shown in Fig. 2) cannot only supply hot water, but also provide energy for the space heating in winter. In addition, some researchers are interested in the study and development of water heaters with solar-assisted heat pumps that can operate eciently for the entire year. However, this kind of solar water heater is still at the laboratory level, and needs some time before going the market. 2.2. Solar buildings Studies on solar building technology started in the early 1970s, and at the rst stage, these studies were mainly focused on passive solar house. In China, about 80% of the population lives in rural areas where the energy supplies for cooking and space heating mainly depend on bush and coal burning. The energy consumption for space heating of buildings in the northern part of China is considerably high due to the extremely cold winter months. Such climatic conditions have led to the rapid development of passive buildings in the northern part of China, especially in the north-west areas of China where bush, forest and hay is extremely scare. By the end of 1998, the total construction areas of passive solar house had reached 180 Mm2. Meanwhile, the use of passive solar greenhouses for agricultural production and ower cultivation has also been increased nationwide.

Fig. 1. Domestic solar water heaters used in Kunming.

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Fig. 2. An illustrative project of solar water heaters integrated into a building in Hongzhu residential zone, Mongzhi of Yunnan.

Currently, energy consumption in buildings accounts for approximately 30% of the total energy consumption in China, and now this proportion is increasing with the improvement of living conditions of Chinese people. Hence, solar passive buildings are believed to have a potential market in the near future. In order to improve the current situation of energy shortage, specialists in energy, together with architects, studied the technology of buildings integrated with solar systems. This solar system includes a solar thermal utilization subsystem and a PV (photovoltaic) subsystem. The thermal utilization subsystem can provide energy for water heating, space heating and cooling, whereas the PV subsystem provides energy for lighting and household appliances. At the present time, such technology of buildings integrated with solar systems is still at the test stage. Recently the project at the Asian Sports Village of Beijing has been under consideration. This project includes an illustrative building with 1000 m2 solar cell modules and 2000 m2 heat-pipe collectors. According to the project design, the solar cell modules will provide one-third of the electricity load and the heat-pipe collectors will provide all the energy for space and water heating. 2.3. Solar refrigeration systems Solar refrigeration is a very attractive application of solar energy. In China, the research and development of solar cooling systems have been conducted since the 1970s, and most work was mainly centered on the solar absorption air conditioning systems in the early stages. Through many years of hard work, many kinds of solar absorption air conditioning systems have been successfully developed. In 1999, a large-scale solar absorption air conditioning and hot water hybrid system was built in Rushan, Shandong Province [3]. The main technical and performance parameters are shown in Table 3. However, many studies on the solar powered absorption air conditioning systems have to be conducted before putting them on to the market.

C. Xiao et al. / Renewable Energy 29 (2004) 15491556 Table 3 Characteristic parameters of solar absorption air conditioning and hot water hybrid system Collector area (m2) v Cooling water temperature ( C) v Heating water temperature ( C) Refrigeration/heating power (kW) Daily average eciency when the system is used as air condition system (%) Daily average eciency when the system is used as hot water system (%) 540 8 88 100 3540 51

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At the same time, research on solar solid adsorption refrigeration have also made a great achievement. Several kinds of solar ice-maker have been successfully built during the past two decades. A kind of solar ice-maker (shown in Fig. 3), manufactured by the Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiaotong University, is attractive for the application in areas with abundant solar radiation [4]. The net solar COP of such system can reach 0.12. In addition, an experimental device of solar at plate hybrid systems for both cooling and heating has also been developed in Shanghai Jiaotong University. Approximately 56 kg of ice per m2 of collectors can be produced each day under the condition of daily solar radiation of v 1822 MJ/m2, meanwhile 60 kg of hot water with temperature at 4550 C can be provided for residential use [5]. 2.4. Solar dryers Before 1980, there were only four sets of solar dryers in use in China. The total aperture areas were 183 m2. During The 7th National Five-Year Plan, the solar drying technology had been developed greatly. To date, there are more than 100 sets of solar dryers with 15,000 m2 aperture area being put into use. Most of them v are low temperature dryers with a drying temperature below 70 C. These solar dryers are mainly used for the drying of grain, wood, vegetables, meat products

Fig. 3. Solar powered adsorption ice-maker developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

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and medicinal herbs. As an example of successful applications, a large-scale solarassisted dryer with 620 m2 aperture area was built in 2000, and used for the drying of sausages in Guangdong Province [6]. This system could reduce coal consumption by 30%. China is the largest agricultural country in the world. As a sanitary and energy-saving device, the solar drying will play an important role in the production of agricultural products. 2.5. Solar thermal electricity generating systems Solar thermal electricity generating system is a device by the use of solar radiation for the generation of electricity through the solar thermal conversion. Its importance has been realized since 1970s in China. Many research institutes have conducted the studies on solar thermal electricity system since then. In the late of 1970s, a solar electric generating system (SEGS) with a total capacity of 1 kW was constructed as an experimental base for scientic research. Currently, no largescale experimental device of solar thermal electricity power systems has been constructed successfully. The main technical diculties are the development of high concentration of solar collectors and receivers for high solar ux. In the near future, it is believed that the investment on the development of solar electric generating systems should be steadily increased in China.

3. Problems Although China has developed many technologies and manufacturing bases for the solar thermal utilization, there are still some factors resisting a further development of solar industry. Currently, only solar water heaters have gone to the market and became a new industry with annually production of 1.2 billon US$. The factors hampering the commercialization of devices of solar thermal utilization are mainly technologies and price of solar products, as well as the capital for the development of high technology products. First, insucient capital is a major constraint on the development of solar thermal utilization technologies in China. With insucient nancial support, a further expansion of solar thermal utilization may not be implemented. On the other hand, insucient research funds makes it impossible to develop new solar products with feasible and mature technologies, and competitive price. Secondly, the high cost of solar energy systems is a main direct cause for them to be widely used. The economic benet produced by solar energy systems depends on the price of conventional energy sources. In most areas of China, the energy price does not represent its real cost due to government subsidies. Lower conventional energy price pushes most of considerably expensive solar energy systems out of the market. Finally, technical diculties also aect a further development of solar thermal utilization. At present, the solar thermal applications are limited to the low temperature devices, many middle and high temperature applications of solar thermal systems are limited in the scale of laboratories without the ability to compete with

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conventional energy systems with regard to either technology and price throughout the world, including China. As a result, the costs of solar thermal systems not only are much higher than those of conventional systems, but also their thermal performance is very poor relative to that of conventional ones. This is why the solar thermal systems are dicult to be put into extensive use. 4. Future concerns 4.1. Solar energy system integrated into buildings Currently, energy consumption in buildings accounts for approximately 30% of the total energy use in China. Although this proportion is lower than 40% of the developed countries, it is believed that such a proportion will be greatly increased with the rapid economic development of China. Solar energy systems used in the buildings are low temperature systems, and therefore have the advantages of lower cost, reliability and safety without any environmental pollution as compared with conventional energy, such as electricity, coal, etc. In order to utilize solar energy as much as possible, the new buildings may be built in such ways that passive solar thermal components, active solar thermal components and PV components are all integrated into envelopes of buildings, such as roofs and walls. Such research work is being conducted, and expected to be nished in the near future under the close cooperation between specialists in energy and architects. Recently, an international cooperation project on the solar water heaters integrated into buildings has been started in Yunnan Province. It is believed that such a project would accelerate the development of solar thermal utilization in China. 4.2. Solar thermal electricity technologies In China, electricity demand is drastically increasing. Most of the grid electricity comes from coal burning electric plants and hydraulic power plants. However, in the remote and sparsely populated areas, such as most of Tibet, grid electricity is not available, the solar thermal electricity is a hopeful and potential choice due to abundant solar resource there. With the ongoing nationally strategic project of western development, the study on solar thermal electricity technologies will become a research focus in coming years.

5. Prospects Limited fossil energy resources and environmental problems force human beings to seek new, sustainable and alternative energies. The sun is the only energy source of our planet, the direct use of solar energy is a wise option for human beings to preserve our planet and sustain rapidly economic development. After the UN Summit Conference on Global Environment and Development in 1992, China quickly made a response towards implementing a sustainable development strategy, and issued the Agenda of China 21st Century. This program stressed, Renewable

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energy is the basis of future energy pattern. Based on this national strategy, the State Science and Technology Committee, State Planning Committee and State Economy and Trade Committee jointly issued The Development Program of New and Renewable Energy in China for Years 19962010 in 1996. Since then, the investments on the solar energy research and development have been increased year by year; international cooperation and exchange have been strengthened gradually. It is reasonable to expect that the solar thermal utilization technologies will play a great role in the energy production of China in the coming years. References
[1] Tian LW. Prompting the international operation of solar water heater industry. Solar Energy Thermalutilization Conference in China, Shengzhen, Guangdong, December 2002. [2] Li JF, Wan YH, Ohi JM. Renewable energy development in China: resource assessment, technology status, and greenhouse gas mitigation potential. Appl Energy 1997;56:38194. [3] Hen ZN, Nai ZY, Liu Y. A comprehensive solar system for air conditioning and heating supply. HV&AC 2002;32(1):14 [in Chinese]. [4] Wang RZ. Adsorption refrigeration research in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2001;5(1):137. [5] Li M, Wang RZ, Luo HL, Wang LL, Huang HB. Experiments of a solar at hybrid system with heating and cooling. Appl Therm Eng 2002;22:144554. [6] Liu SY, Li LD. Application researches of solar drying and their applications in industry and agriculture. New Energy Res 2000;22(1):915 [in Chinese].