Sustainable Energy Successees

   

In the city of Krasnodar, 100 km northeast of the Black Sea, the regional hospital invested in solar collectors to lower the hospital's costs of heating and hot water.

The solar collector system was bought from a local company, UREK, in 1995. The system is supposed to pay for itself in 3 years, with savings on the city-supplied heating and hot water. In 1996, the system saved the hospital about 6,400 USD.

The solar collector system produces 10 m³ of hot water daily. The operational season is from the end of April until the end of September. The hot water in the pipe after the collectors heat it can reach 80^oC in hot weather. The collectors are installed on the roof of the hospital's kitchen, and the water is used for cooking after some additional boiling powered by electricity. According to the manager of the hospital, the brass pipes used in the system are safer than the iron pipes usually used in water supply systems, as there is less reaction of the water with the metal. The system consists of 108 solar collector panels with a total area of about 88 m². A storage tank is used with these collectors to accumulate water and stabilise the supply. The drop in water temperature in the tank overnight is about 2^oC. A pump is used to circulate water through the system.

Solar Energy in Russia Roughly, 10 companies in Russia are involved in production of solar collectors that are used to produce heat. The Ministry of Fuel and Energy estimated the total area of all solar collectors in 1994 at 100,000 m2. In most cases, these installations work in the south of the country and only during the warm seasons of the year. Beside the commercial solar collectors, it is a common practice in the countryside of Russia to use showers that use water heated by the sun. Even the use of these primitive devices throughout the country eliminates the need to burn millions of tons of coal, oil, and gas to heat water.

The hospital is very satisfied with the solar collector system, and is planning to buy 4 more systems in the future. The hospital's total hot-water consumption ranges from 300 to 500 m³ per day. The hot water serves 1,200 patients, 3,100 staff members, and 1,500 visitors of the clinic.

According to the UREK company estimates, in the Krasnodar region there is a potential to save 200 MW power for water production by these solar collectors as an alternative to the present electric heating. The company has installed 35 facilities on houses and commercial buildings, with a total collector area of 3,000 m² since 1993. The production is in co-operation with the Kovrov Mechanical Plant. The UREK company has proposed changes in the solar panels' design to make them effective in all seasons of the year, with a projected 40% increase in annual output.