I'm here today in what is normally a very sunny place Perth, Western Australia.
Today it's overcast and a bit cool and I'm here to visit a renewable
heating technology company called Sunovate
Sunovate is a solar thermal technology and there is a prototype
system installed on this roof here, which belongs to co-founder Glen Ryan.
So while I happen to be in Perth for work, Glen offered to spend his Sunday
arvo showing me around his roof and explaining the system to me.
I'm Rosie Barnes
Welcome to Engineering with Rosie.
So before I go knock on the door,
let's just talk a little bit about why renewable heat matters.
Energy use
for heating is about half of the world's
energy demand and 40% of global CO2 emissions.
So of that half, it's about a 50-50 split
between heating buildings and heat for industrial processes.
Currently, most of the world's heating comes from fossil fuels, which
are the cause of those CO2 emissions, or they come from traditional biomass.
Traditional biomass means burning wood or dung or other plant matter,
and that is close to carbon neutral.
But it's also a major health concern due to the pollution it causes.
So modern renewable heat consumption, and that includes modern biomass,
but not traditional biomass
that supplies only slightly over 10% of the world's heat.
And while this share is growing, it's growing slowly,
not nearly fast enough to keep up with our decarbonisation targets.
So we've really been making slow progress over the last
few decades towards decarbonising heat.
So can we possibly expect to change this and move fast now?
Is clean heating actually just a really difficult problem?
And perhaps do we lack the technologies to make it happen?
Well, today we're going to get a tour of one technology solution, Sunovate
Solar Thermal system.
I'm at co-founder and inventor, Glen Ryan's house in Perth
and he's going to take me up on the roof to show me the prototype system
that he has installed there and explain how it works.
Okay, Rosie, let's go topside.
So this is our living lab.
So originally we had the first three kilowatts, now five kilowatts
standard PV system.
And what we've introduced is the I guess the living lab test array.
So we've got the first five panels
are the Sunovate PV system.
This is our, this is a built-in PV emulation.
We then have the next panel, which is an open back
and then we have a controlled roof,
tin roof mounted standard panel foil back,
and then we have the Solarwatt glass-glass panel.
So we're using these panels, these four panels as controls
for our experiments against these other five panels.
So it gives us a really good reference.
And then we have a little solar system and a weather station
so we can actually capture all those other ambient conditions.
Okay.
So can you just explain really quickly how it works?
Okay.
So the Sunovate system is a PVT, so photovoltaic thermal
and we use air to cool the panels.
So by doing that, by keeping the panels cooler, we can actually produce
more electricity by keeping the cells cooler.
And as a result of that, when we cool, cool
the cells, we actually produce heated air.
So we can then take that heated air and use it for space heating,
hot water heating, other, you know, other sort of industrial processes.
So we can just fit it to one panel
and then we can daisy chain that up to other panels. So
solar panels,
they work by sitting out in the sun and making electricity.
And you're telling me
that they're not efficient when they hot, that that seems like a major design flaw?
Well, yes.
They're like, I guess the frame or what we're using to the sun
that we're using to generate it actually is its enemy.
So the hotter they get, the worse they perform.
So they're getting better handling it.
But the issue that that you find with these technologies also,
not only does it hit the performance on the day,
but the high temperature over time is actually degrading
the cells and the epoxies and stuff that hang around it.
So you're actually reducing the life extension
or life expectancy of the panels just for that sustained heat.
Okay.
So these are the five panels.
So we've got the little fan that you might have seen earlier.
Just underneath this one, we have an inlet just in underneath here
and that distributes the air across the bottom five panels here .
So inside there is our Sunovate panels that sit nicely nested
between this, the frame and the solar panels.
So as the air is being pushed up, that's coming out across each one of these cells
and then it disperses and we capture that air
and then we collect that air in the header that then discharges out the top there.
So we've got one inlet and one outlet for five panels of this combination.
Okay.
So does that mean that the air starts off nice and cool and it's really hot
by the time it gets out the end?
The fact is that the the air comes up to each cell
and then goes away from it so we can actually cool the cell
and then drag that hot air away from the cooling surface.
So that's where our actual innovation is that we don't mix the air.
So we pass it through once and then we get rid of it.
So we're not continuously mixing it.
So this cell down here will be the same temperature as that cell up there.
Other PVT panels that you might have come across.
Now, they'll have a cold water inlet there and then they'll run a serpentine
type system or they'll run them kind of up to a heater at the top.
So the point you raised was this will be much colder than the top one.
So we alleviate that.
And that's a problem electrically because if that's a hot panel
that's kind of dictates
the whole hot cell that dictates the whole circuit performance.
Okay.
I think I saw a similar system someone else was doing,
but they were using it was a water-cooled system.
So you guys use air.
I mean, as a, you know, just thinking of the basic engineering equations,
it seems like water would be a better choice because it's more
you know, it's got more thermal mass, so you should be able to remove more heat.
Why didn't you guys didn't do that? So you comment about water is it's four times
it can carry four times as much energy as air per kilogram.
But it has those other complexities of,
you know, what do you do with it when it's boiling?
You know, how do you get rid of the heat? You need another bit of device.
What happens when it leaks against electrical circuits?
Then what happens when it freezes, when it's super cold?
So, you know,
some of these devices have flow back systems,
so they try and drain all the water out.
And you're kind of hoping that you haven't left a bit
that's going to then freeze and crack the system.
So so I know you had a lot of days here over 40 degrees recently, probably
that's like peak electricity demand because everyone wants the air conditioner
on. So let's say that the solar panels are 80 or maybe even more degrees.
What temperature are they want if you've got the Sunovate system in.
Yeah.
So so we on one of those days, those sticking hot days
the built in PV temperature of the cell
or the cell temperature was 102 degrees.
We've got another two test, control test panels
that were up around 88 degrees and they're amounted to a tin roof.
And we were able to bring our temperature down to 50, just over 50 degrees.
cell temperature. And how much efficiency improvement do you see with that?
So for every so every ten degrees, depending on your panel,
it can be 5% to 4%.
So newer panels around 4%, older panels around 5%.
So the thermal coefficient of performance
is linear pretty much all the way through it's operation.
So even
even down to very, very cold climates, they're still related to that coefficient.
Okay.
So if you are, you know, somewhere where it's
minus something degrees on a really, really cold clear day,
then you're still getting an increase in efficiency from cooling it even more.
Cooling it even more, correct? Yeah. Okay,
So that all sounds great.
But I think the elephant in the room is that it sun happens in the summertime.
You need heating in the winter time.
So there's like a bit of a mismatch, you know?
Well, and it's a good point.
So we got a seasonal mismatch.
So what we're seeing, you know, with examples like Denmark
and Netherlands is they're starting to use seasonal storage.
And those seasonal storage are connected to district heating systems
and those district
heating systems are connected to customers and also large solar fields.
So we're starting to see like large solar fields
feeding and charging those those thermal storage systems.
So this is where we think the future is, is that,
you know, as we've learned from the recent gas crisis,
people are going to see the examples in Denmark and Netherlands
in terms of lower district heating prices and also the ability to decarbonise
them through solar thermal and other renewable solutions
that this is going to be the pathway to go.
Okay and I mean, now everybody is obsessed in Europe and
and elsewhere, mostly in Europe.
They're they're obsessed with getting off gas because they don't want.
I'm buying Russian gas and it's gotten really expensive anyway.
So does that present opportunities for you?
Oh, absolutely.
Finally, people are starting to talk about renewable heat.
You know, we've been harping on it for the last five years.
It's kind of always been a topic that's never, it's
complicated for most politicians.
They kind of understand electricity.
But, you know, it's kind of like it's
it's been the unwanted child or the elephant in the room.
And it's only now that that actually people are starting to make the,
I guess, mental connection between gas and actually home heating.
And actually, in the extent that they're using for domestic heating
and they're realising not quite the best outcome.
So we will expect to see, I guess, a huge ramp
up in renewable heating targets across most of the EU.
And I think that will also flow out to other regions as well.
Okay. So that was a fun tour.
So thanks so much, Glenn, for inviting me up onto your roof.
I really like the
Sunovate system and I kind of absorbed some of Glenn's frustration
at how slow the world has been moving on renewable heat. By now
nearly every country has a renewable energy
target, but still less than a third have renewable heating targets.
I find it strange that such a large chunk of global emissions has gotten barely
any attention from policymakers and even activists. Until recently
that is. Because now all of a sudden, everyone, and especially Europeans,
are paying attention to renewable heat, since gas prices
jumped to ridiculous levels at the end of 2021,
and then even more so after Russia started the war in Ukraine.
Now, decarbonization, foreign
policy, energy security and economics all share a common goal.
Get off gas ASAP.
I have already seen so many people starting to talk about heat
pumps and insulation.
These are topics that engineers have been going on about for decades, but
it seemed like no one else was really interested until now.
And we are starting to see progress on heat pump installations,
which started actually even before the current crisis
and even in really cold places like the Nordics.
So with heat pumps moving in the right direction, does Sunovate and other solar
thermal have a place in the transition to renewable heat or do heat pumps
have the whole problem under control? In most aspects of the energy transition,
the fastest, easiest and cheapest answer to decarbonisation is to electrify.
So petrol powered cars become electric cars.
Gas cooktops become induction cooktops and for heating,
that would mean that gas heaters or boilers become heat pumps.
And we are saying way more heat pumps being installed recently
starting from before the gas crisis and the Ukraine war.
But depending on local factors, it's not completely straightforward to electrify
a whole country's heating using renewable electricity to power those heat pumps.
That's because global heat demand is more than double electricity
demand and peak non-electric heat can be five times electricity demand.
Now, those figures aren't quite as bad as they might seem at first glance
because electric heating, especially when you use a heat pump
from which you get more heat energy out than the electrical energy you put in,
that is vastly more efficient
than burning something for heating where you get slightly less energy out
than put in because some of the energy is wasted.
So even if we change all gas heaters to heat pumps,
you won't multiply peak electricity demand by five times, but you might say
double it, which is still going to be a really big problem.
That means that you need to be able to get that amount of electricity to buildings,
so your power lines need to be able to handle it
and you need to have that amount
of electricity available in the middle of winter.
In countries like Australia, where I am now, we have pretty mild
and sunny winters, so heating needs are pretty small and there's always
at least some solar power available even in the middle of winter.
In contrast, other countries like Scandinavia,
where I lived until recently, have really long, cold and dark winters.
They have high heating demand in the middle of winter
and very low solar output right when they need that heating.
So it's more difficult for those countries to simply electrify heating.
So Sunovate actually does provide some solutions for that seasonal mismatch.
Either you can store the heat in seasonal thermal storage like they do
in some projects in Scandinavia, and I've seen some in Canada too.
And then also even in wintertime, there's still usually some energy
coming from the sun.
So you can you can combine the Sunovate system with a heat pump
and boost the the range of conditions that you can use your heat pump in.
It's great to have a variety of technology options available, and I think that a
lot of different technologies can combine well to make a good overall system.
So I'm really hoping to see Sunovate about other solar thermal really ramp up fast.
Glenn and I spoke in more depth about all of these issues
in our renewable heat live stream we did a few months ago.
So make sure to check that out if you want more information, more depth.
And by pure coincidence, my favorite YouTube buddy Dave from Just Have a
Think has also been working on a video on the Sunovate technology.
I guess that great minds really do think alike.
Dave's video talks a lot more about the product itself,
how it's made, how it works, how it's integrated into a home or
industrial processes, and he does it all with his characteristic British humor.
So be sure to check that out when you finish watching this one.
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