FRANCE – The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) has published its latest guide and study for professionals to help them carry out their projects.
This month’s ADEME guide features a guide to thermal solar panels and energy and is designed for use in projects run by owners of ECS installations and also the major players in the solar sector.
Thermal solar  technology is a completely different technology from conventional solar panels, or solar photovoltaic energy. While in conventional photovoltaic solar panels, the panels convert photons emitted by the sun into electrical energy, thermal solar  panels seek to recover heat from solar radiation so as to heat a liquid. This liquid may be a gas or a fluid, but in the specific case of this guide, of course, water is of interest, which can then be reused in domestic hot water (DHW) production and distribution installation.
The solar thermal sector does indeed address a number of environmental, energy and health issues and, as such, many healthcare institutions will be in a position to reap the benefits of such a technology.
In the guide you will find all the information necessary to carry out a thermal solar project for the production of DHW, but also some key figures and indicators of dimensioning, performances and costs, among others, to understand the issues relating to the technology.
Finally, the guide has also been designed to give information on the points of vigilance, which all managers, owners and operators must pay careful attention to so that they can optimally manage their thermal solar  installation.