Obtaining thermal energy from renewable sources in rural areas using a combined energy system

Abstract

The article presents an energy system solution in which the heat energy required to get domestic hot water needed for a family home is obtained by the cumulative conversion of energy from 2 renewable sources: solar energy and biomass energy. Compared to the classic variants of thermal systems, which exploit a single source and provide only partially the energy needed, the combined use consists of energy supply from one source when the other is unavailable or insufficient. In the present case, when the domestic hot water requirement is no longer covered by the solar thermal panels (consumption during the night, days without sun or temporary consumption higher than the usual one), energy from biomass is used in the same system. It is converted to thermal energy using a generator where the gasification module uses the TLUD process. In addition to a higher yield of biomass, this process allows the use of a wide range of biomass types, existing in rural areas. The article presents the results obtained from the experimentation of the system that uses 4 solar panels and a thermal energy generator with a power of approx. 10 kW.