Solar-assisted district heating plants: Status of the German Programme Solarthermie-2000

Within the 10 year Programme "Solarthermie-2000'' of the German Federal Min istry for Economics and Technology (BMWi), large-scale solar-assisted heati ng plants have been funded in Germany. Long-term monitoring programmes are carried out to prove the technical and economic feasibility of various sola r system concepts with and without seasonal storage. The paper presents a s ummary and review of the present status and results of the activities in th e Programme. Long-term monitoring programmes have shown that the design dat a of the solar plants can be achieved if realistic assumptions are made. Th e main obstacle for the implementation of the concepts on a broader scale w ithout public subsidies is the high investment costs of the solar systems. The main goal of the Programme is the further improvement of the cost-effec tiveness of the solar concepts. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.