The idea of this project is based on increasing energy efficiency and reducing fossil fuel consumption in Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. It was initiated and implemented by Giurgiu’s Municipality, which is running a project called “Modernizing the heating and hot water supply system by installing solar panels”. The first steps of this plan consisted of modernizing the hot water supply system of four gyms and one system supplying hot water and heating to a block of flats. The solar collectors on both sites have been in operation since September 2006.

The gym at the M. Anastasovici Stadium – which as one of the four gyms is described in detail here – has 6 solar panels providing 100 sportsmen with hot water for 16 hours per day. Another 84 solar panels heat the pool water. These collectors only supply hot water from March to october.

On the roof of the block of flats No. 516 – which has 30 apartments and approximately 90 dwellers – a further 36 solar panels with a total area of 66 m² were installed.

TECHNOLOGY

The solar panels installed at the gym are type Alfa 250; those on the roof of the block of flats type Beta. Both types are distributed by the Romanian company Alfa Bit.
The hot water systems consist of a set of solar panels on the roof, pre-insulated heating piping components and a hydro-pump installation in the thermal plant to increase pressure. The exploitation of the installation is dependent upon the temperature the solar panels deliver, which may increase or decrease according to: the daily quantity of hot water distributed to the consumers; the time of the year (the quantity and temperature of the hot water supplied by the solar panels is much lower in cold months); weather (cloud cover).
In the case of apartment block No. 516, the number of panels (36) was chosen using the criterion of supplying 50 litres/person/day throughout the year. Hot water preparation is done in a 5 000 litre tank located in the block’s thermal centre, together with the plate heat exchangers and the water circulation pumps.
It is estimated that 193 Gcal/year energy can be produced with the new solar panels. The expected lifetime of the installed capacity is 25 years.

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ECONOMIC ASPECTS

The project cost of EUR 286 091 was completely covered by the local budget of Giurgiu’s Municipality. Neither State nor other grants were used. The project owners calculate that the investment will be paid back in 10 years.
In the case of apartment block No. 516, no district heat had been previously supplied in summer. As the network of the Giurgiu Co-Generation Plant – which runs mostly above ground – is in a poor state, the co-generation plant stops during summer as the low thermal load would lead to large losses in the primary agent network. Thus, until now, hot water was produced in summer by individual electric boilers for each apartment. Electricity bills could run very high for the flats involved; the solar panels are a big benefit for dwellers.

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SOCIAL EFFECTS

Before starting the investment, the municipality involved the population by asking for their permission. Also the local Block Associations have been involved. The development of the project does not have much media and internet exposure, but information can be easily obtained from the City Hall.
No new jobs were created because S. C. Alfa Bit S. A. used its own employees for installing the solar collectors.

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ENVIROMENTAL EFFECTS

Due to the new solar panels an estimated amount of 43 t/year fuel oil can be saved overall. This means that an estimated amount of 131 tonnes of CO₂-emissions can be avoided per year. Furthermore, the air pollution of Giurgiu was reduced due to the amount of oil saved.

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DIFFICULTIES, PROBLEMS

No problems occurred during the implementation of the project. The only difficulties are caused by the lack of financial resources to expand the area of installed solar collectors to the whole town.

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FOLLOW UP

The project will continue for 2 more blocks of flats and, depending on the local budget, it could be extended in another phase to one further block.

As the first project for supplying heating and hot water by means of solar panels was successful, there is an initiative of the Giurgiu City Hall to gradually turn to the use of renewable energy sources for thermal energy production. The main problem nevertheless is still attracting the necessary funds for these projects.

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FURTHER INFORMATION

City Hall Giurgiu

Corneliu Gheorghe - Chief of Investment Service
Tel: +40 720 009 875

Dragomirescu Bogdan - Field Engineer
Tel: +40 724 497 774

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