Numerical Simulation by RETScreen Expert of Solar Hot Water Production for 12 Stations Installed on Algeria

Abstract

ABSTRACT Domestic hot water production is in high demand. Fossil fuels are the most used means of producing domestic hot water. Unfortunately, these methods have certain drawbacks, such as increased consumption of fossil fuels, risks, and environmental impacts. The use of solar energy non‐polluting and abundant resource seems a good alternative. Algeria has a significant solar deposit that remains underexploited to date. This work focuses on the production of domestic hot water using solar energy in Algeria, selecting twelve sites representative of all local climates: coastal, inland, high plateau, and Saharan. For each climate, three thermosiphon solar collectors of different technologies are used: glazed, unglazed, and vacuum. These solar collectors were numerically simulated using RETScreen Expert. The results obtained made it possible to determine the charge recovery rate for all the selected sites. Indeed, for the southern regions, the charge recovery rate varies between 59.7% and 75.9% for the glazed collector, 50% and 80% for the unglazed collector and 40% and 65% for the evacuated collector. For the northern and central regions, the charge recovery rate varies between 46% and 55.8% for the glazed collector, 40% and 65% for the evacuated collector and 20% and 30% for the unglazed collector. The use of all collectors has positive effects, but the evacuated and glazed collectors are more efficient than the unglazed collectors. With such a glazed solar collector, and thanks to the RETScreen Expert simulation, greenhouse gas emissions of 1.7 tonnes can be avoided over the entire lifetime of the installation.