Potential of solar heat for industrial processes: a summary of the key findings from Solar Payback

Abstract

Solar thermal technologies present an opportunity to provide clean and renewable thermal energy for process heating when the process temperature is below 400 oC. Project Solar PayBack has been initiated to increase the awareness around the technical and economic potential of Solar Heat for Industrial Processes (SHIP) within South Africa, India, Mexico and Brazil. This paper outlines some of the initial findings from the first research phase of the Solar PayBack project for South Africa. The analysis presented in this paper highlights the food and beverage sector as having the highest SHIP potential in South Africa. This sector is one of largest industrial sectors of the economy and has a number of processes suitable for SHIP integration. However, the extensive use of low cost coal as a boiler fuel in South African industries, remains a challenge to the adoption of SHIP. Companies utilising petroleum-based boiler fuels or electricity have a higher potential for savings when deploying SHIP.