Summer sun against the winter cold

In part of the “Am Ackermannbogen” housing estate near the Munich Olympic Park, a solar thermal system supplies almost half the heat required for space and domestic hot water heating.

Together with a large-scale heat storage tank and heat pump, around 2,800 square metres of collector surface area supply four large apartment buildings and eight town houses. All buildings meet the requirements of the latest German Energy Saving Ordinance. Since it began operation in 2007, the solar project has been scientifically monitored.

The new BINE-Projektinfo brochure “Summer sun against the winter cold” (02/2011) presents the local solar heating concept realised there as well as the operating experiences and measurement values from two heating periods.

The system is operated by Munich's municipal utility company, Stadtwerke München. In constructing the seasonal heat storage tank, they opted for an underground bunker made of prestressed and precast concrete units. This storage tank contains 5.7 million litres of water, is clad on the inside with stainless steel and is thermally insulated on its outer, earth-facing surface. If, during the course of the year, the storage temperature is no longer sufficient for direct use, an absorption heat pump optimises the remaining residual heat. A particularly difficult task was to develop a stratified charging system for such a large plant. This component is still being optimised.

To date, the solar thermal project has achieved an efficiency of 45%, a return temperature of 30 °C and enables the direct use of solar thermal heat into December. In future it is planned to further optimise the storage concept to achieve an efficiency of 50%. The BINE-Projektinfo brochure “Summer sun against winter cold” (02/2011), which can be obtained free of charge from the BINE Information Service at FIZ Karlsruhe, is available online at www.bine.info or by calling +49 228 92379-0.

Press contact

Uwe Milles
presse(at)bine.info
About BINE Information Service
Energy research for practical applications
The BINE Information Service reports on energy research topics, such as new materials, systems and components, as well as innovative concepts and methods. The knowledge gained is incorporated into the implementation of new technologies in practice, because first-rate information provides a basis for pioneering decisions, whether in the planning of energy-optimised buildings, increasing the efficiency of industrial processes, or integrating renewable energy sources into existing systems.

About FIZ Karlsruhe

FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure is a not-for-profit organization with the public mission to make sci-tech information from all over the world publicly available and to provide related services in order to support the national and international transfer of knowledge and the promotion of innovation.

Our business areas:
• STN International – the world’s leading online service for research and patent information in science and technology
• KnowEsis – innovative eScience solutions to support the process of research in all its stages, and throughout all scientific disciplines
• Databases and Information Services – Databases and science portals in mathematics, computer science, crystallography, chemistry, and energy technology

FIZ Karlsruhe is a member of the Leibniz Association (WGL) which consists of 87 German research and infrastructure institutions.