ACTIVE SOLAR DISTILLATION SYSTEM - AN INVESTMENT ALTERNATIVE TO A SOLAR HOT-WATER SYSTEM

The present analysis evaluates a collector assisted solar distillation system as an investment alternative to a splar hot water system. Tech no-economic analysis is performed for both systems in the same economi c environment and considering the same capacity. On the basis of annua l numerical computations, it is concluded that (a) the cost of hot wat er for DELTAT = 30 to 40-degrees (0.045 Rs/l) is much less than the co st of distilled water (0.43 Rs/l), while the cost of energy from the d istillation system (0.69 Rs/kWh) is much less than the cost of energy obtained from the water heater (1.80 Rs/kWh) and (b) the annual operat ing cost of the solar water heater is higher than that of the solar st ill because of the higher initial investment in the former.