HIGH COMBI – High Solar Fraction Heating and Cooling Systems with Combination of Innovative Components and Methods

The HIGH COMBI project consortium consists of 12 partners from 6 countries. In the research phase, different system configurations will be examined and optimized by detailed simulations. Innovative techniques, components and/or configurations will be examined in detail (e.g. new storage concepts, use of rejected heat during cooling, combined heating and cooling control, etc.).

In total five demonstration plants (two of them in Austria) will be constructed, using different combination of technologies, components and control strategies. All demonstration plants will achieve high solar fraction values with a sound economy; for some of the plants more than 70% of coverage for the space heating, domestic hot water and cooling load is expected to be reached. The demonstration plants will be monitored and analysed for about 15 months. Based on these monitoring data the simulation and design tools will be validated and the performance of the plants evaluated.

A market analysis will be carried out in order to estimate the potential penetration of these systems in the European heating and cooling market. The sectors of potential implementation are all medium and large buildings having heating and cooling loads along the year.

Further projects on Solar Cooling: Solair, Solar Combi+, IEA Task 38, Task 38 – Solar Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration