The most rural areas in China are rich in solar energy providing potential for energy-saving, emission-reduction, enhancing life quality of life for rural residents. However, advanced solar technologies for heating purpose has not been widely used because the high capital cost requirements. This paper presents the current status on solar energy heating technologies applied in rural areas for China. Paper also investigates solar energy collecting system, thermal energy storage, heating terminal, auxiliary heat source and analyse the methods to increase the efficiency while keeping the cost minimal. China has four major climatic zone and it has been found that solar heating can be applicable and reduce the cost in all four regions. Four heating models of regions were given in paper for reference in engineering application with the cost of 2131, 3055.6, 4075.6 and 2661.2 yuan/a respectively. It presents the adaptability strategy of some potential equipment’s will depend on the economic development in rural areas of China.
Keywords. solar energy; rural areas; heating system; cost
How to cite this article
Shen, Y., Liu, S., Shukla, A., Yang, L., Han, X. and Song, M. (2018). 'Feasibility analysis of solar heating system in rural areas in China'. SET Proceedings, 17(4), pp. 116-125. https://doi.org/10.65582/set.2018.200
