Solar innovation powers 24/7 sustainable heating for 300+ homes

Relevant markets:

District Heating Grid

Municipality

Sustainable developement goals:

Heliac’s 1.5 MW solar field revolutionises E.ON’s district heating plant in Denmark

Discover how utility company E.ON partnered with our portfolio company Heliac to ensure uninterrupted sustainable heating for one of Lendemarke’s communities. Heliac produces, delivers and installs solar fields based on low-cost, high-efficiency lenses. Heliac’s solar collectors can produce sustainable and unsubsidised heat at temperatures higher than 350C at a cost below that of fossil fuels anywhere in the world.

The challenge

Heat represents more than 50% of the world’s energy consumption but traditional methods of heat generation are significantly detrimental to the environment.

Utility company E.ON has ambitious sustainability targets and has put a roadmap in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. In order to expedite this transition, they are actively seeking sustainable alternatives that eliminate CO2 emissions. One specific endeavor involves providing sustainable heating to a community of 335 households in the Danish city of Lendemarke.

The solution

For this project, E.ON worked with Heliac to build a full-scale solar field installation that now covers 1 hectare of land and consists of 144 energy-efficient solar collectors. These collectors utilise Heliac’s transparent foil lenses, which function like giant magnifying glasses. Standing at 4 meters in height, the panels rotate on a base to remain perpendicular to the sun at all times.

The impact

To distribute the generated heat efficiently, insulated district heating pipes are laid out over a distance of 13 kilometers, connecting 335 local households. Additionally, heat tanks are in place to ensure a continuous and uninterrupted supply of heat, 24/7.

One of the significant advantages of Heliac’s technology is the ability to mass-produce their lenses, which leads to long-term cost reduction for solar systems.

25%

LESS SURFACE AREA

335

HOUSEHOLDS

24/7

HEAT SUPLY

1,500 MWh

DISTRICT HEAT / YEAR, CO2-FREE