Solar process heat in industry as a solution for decarbonization

SOLID has built a large-scale solar thermal plant for one of the largest aluminum packaging manufacturers in the world.

The decarbonization of industry with renewable energy sources is currently being heavily discussed. Considering the need to slow down climate change and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels as well as to secure the energy supply of the future, renewable energies are becoming a crucial driving factor for the transition to a low-emission future. For this reason, many leading industrial companies are switching to 100% renewable energy supply.

Compared to small-scale solar thermal collectors, which are used to supply heat for single-family homes, there have been very low-maintenance and durable large-scale collectors available for more than a decade, which can supply heat at temperatures of up to 150 °C in a highly efficient manner.

The market for solar process heat is growing and meanwhile there are a few companies offering turnkey solar plants for industrial companies. SOLID Solar Energy Systems GmbH is a leading company in this sector. In addition to numerous reference installations for solar air conditioning systems and solar district heating systems, SOLID is also focused on solar heat for industrial processes.

Ball Corporation is one of the largest aluminum packaging manufacturers in the world. The cleaning of the products requires heat in a temperature range of approx. 60 °C. Living sustainability and therefore also the use of renewable energies is an essential part of Ball Corporation's priorities.

For Fairfield, California, construction of a 3,950 m² process heating plant with a thermal capacity of 2.8 MW is underway. The plant will generate 3,780 MWh over the year. This will cover 46% of the annual heat demand, and up to 70% in the summer months. This plant is financed together with the Israeli company TIGI, and the solar heat is provided through a heat supply contract.

"Government regulations are relatively easy to comply with, as there is no connection from the solar plant to a grid. This is a multiplier advantage for international companies with many different locations around the world," says SOLID's project developer Johannes Luttenberger.

News

Here you can find other cool news and hot topics!
Learn more

Revolutionizing district heating

Discover the Solution to Securely Plan and Operate district heating Systems with Renewable Energy Sources!

SOLID started a Crowdfunding campaign on February 7 th

Within eight weeks, it is possiblefor investors from Austria and Germany to invest in the growth market of solar energy.

Solar process heat in industry as a solution for decarbonization

SOLID has built a large-scale solar thermal plant for one of the largest aluminum packaging manufacturers in the world.

Sun, Cows, California

You always wanted to know what solar thermal has to do with cows? SOLID has built a new large-scale solar thermal plant in California and recently put it into operation. COO Peter Luidolt shares further details about the project in this interview.

Fault-Detective

A new approach to make monitoring more effective

ThermaFLEX – Heat supply of the future

SOLID Solar Energy Systems GmbH participated in the flagship project ThermaFLEX. The project dealt with increasing energy flexibility and resulting CO 2 -emission reductions in the district heating sector

Online panel discussion about energy independence on October 11th, 2022

SOLID would like to invite you to an online panel discussion about the topic: Energy independence: How large-scale solar heat frees European cities from fossil fuels.

SOLID Solar Energy Systems and solar.nahwaerme.at were nominated for "Energy Globe Styria Award 2022" with AVL List

In 2021, SOLID received the Energy Globe Styria Award in the category "Municipalities". In 2022, AVL was nominated with SOLID and solar.nahwaerme.at Energiecontracting GmbH as partner in the category "Industry".

Christian Holter was honored for his many years of commitment to solar thermal energy

In the course of the 30th anniversary of the European solar thermal association Solar Heat Europe (SHE),Christian Holter was honored as "Outstanding Contributor in Solar Thermal Research and Innovation".

Inauguration of Austria’s second largest solar plant

Heat from the sun enables district heating customers to participate in the energy turnaround.

SOLID invests in Solis Calor AB

Solis Calor AB, based in Stockholm, has developed a concept for the design, financing and asset management of solar heating systems and thermal energy storage solutions.

Invitation to the webinar on large-scale water heat storage systems on November 30th

We are pleased to invite you to a webinar, within the framework of the research project gigaTES, which dealt with large-scale heat storage systems.

Mürzzuschlag receives 4e award within the e5 program

At the mayors' conference in Bruck an der Mur on 03.11.2021, the municipality of Mürzzuschlag was awarded 4 e's.

Sabine Putz is solar heat woman of the month

Announced by solarthermalworld.org

SOLID wins the ACR Innovation Award!

The "D-CAT method" developed by SOLID in cooperation with AEE INTEC has won the ACR Innovation Award!

Christian Holter as energy expert at "Talk im Hangar-7”

On September 30th, Christian Holter of SOLID accepted the invitation of the private broadcaster Servus TV to participate in the discussion program "Talk im Hangar-7".

SOLID and Ensol presented jointly solar thermal approaches for district heating

At XXVIII Spring Meeting of Heat Engineers on July 12-14 in Zakopane, Poland

SOLID was awarded with the Brand Leader Award 2021

SOLID is proud of having been awarded for setting new standards in comprehensive efficiency, operational excellence and reliability in the industry of solar thermal energy systems supplying cities or districts with renewable heat

Energy Globe Styria awarded

Great success for SOLID and its partner Stadtwerke Mürzzuschlag: the project “Sustainable district heating Mürzzuschlag” was selected by a jury among 82 projects submitted in Styria.

Webinar about the solar thermal system Mürzzuschlag

The backgrounds, motivation and development of the 2nd largest system in Austria will be discussed in a joint presentation on June 22, 2021

Ready to invest in BigSolar plants in Serbia

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Prof. Dr. Zorana Mihajlovic discusses framework conditions for solar thermal projects with SOLID delegation

Subsidies for large-scale solar thermal installations in Austria were significantly increased

Since 2010, the Climate and Energy Fund (Klimafonds) has been supporting the construction of large-scale solar thermal systems.

First Big Solar Energy Conference in Serbia…

… and of course, SOLID is part of it

SOLID supports shaping the future of solar thermal

The European Solar Thermal Technology Panel, a part of the “Renewable Heating and Cooling” platform, is working on its brand-new Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda.

Feasibility study for the pharmaceutical company Sandoz GmbH

The Sandoz GmbH pursues a sustainability strategy where together with SOLID, a feasibility study for the integration of solar heat into the production process is being developed.

Workshop on absorption heat pumps and chillers on April 9th, 2021

SOLID would like to invite you to participate online in the workshop on experimental analysis, simulation and control systems of absorption heat pumps and absorption chillers.

Sabine Putz is the new Chairwoman of RHC Europe's horizontal working group

The RHC Europe, the European technology and innovation platform on renewable heating and cooling has elected Sabine Putz, who was SOLID´s Head of R&D for many years and Operating Agent of IEA SHC TASK 55 as chairwoman of the horizontal working group.

The use of open spaces for solar systems

Large-scale solar thermal plants, which feed into heat grids or supply heat to large consumers, have to be built close to the consumer due to technical conditions.

KLIEN Förderung Solare Großanlagen

Bis zu 50% Investitionsförderung, 100% Förderung für Machbarkeitsstudien ab 5.000 m²

Solar heat from flowering meadows full of bees

The protection of nature and species can be an essential aspect when planning solar thermal open-air systems.

Similar to photovoltaics, flora and fauna can also benefit greatly from solar thermal open-space systems.

SOLID supports Western Balkan countries in the energy transition

The countries of the Western Balkans, Serbia, BiH, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania are ready to hit the switch to renewable energies.

back to top