Calculate how much solar energy you can produce:
Handbook in solar heating from Norsk solenergiforening:
Solar heating solutions for the future
The sun is a climate-friendly energy source that can be harvested for free and used locally. Heating accounts for a large part of the energy consumption in buildings in Northern Europe. Solar collectors transform the energy of the solar rays directly into heat, which is four times more efficient than using solar photovoltaic for heating purposes. Solar collectors can be connected to existing water-borne heating systems.
As of January 1st 2020, it is no longer allowed to use fossil fuels to heat buildings in Norway. The ban will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote the transition to a society where heating solutions are renewable.
Our products and services
Catch Solar offers solar heating systems that can be adapted to the customer's needs and integrated into the building's architectural design. Our customers are homeowners, owners of commercial real estate, agricultural property or managers of public buildings. We take responsibility for total design or collaborate with renowned subcontractors.
Panels in flexible sizes
Catch Solar has solar collectors that can be adapted to the building's architectural design and integrated into roofs or wall facades.
Consultations
Catch Solar offers consulting services within hybrid solutions and ensures that you get the most efficient energy solution for your need.
Service and maintenance agreements
Catch Solar monitors our customers system during the operating phase through remote monitoring and can make adjustments for more efficient operations.
Combined solution with electric heating
Solar heating reduces electricity consumption in installations with water-borne heating and electric boilers.
Combined solution with heat pump
For waterborne systems, a combination of solar collectors and heat pumps will increase the effect of the heat pumps and the efficiency of the building's heating system.
Combined solution with district heating
Solar collectors are a good supplement to district heating plants that must be additionally powered by electricity or oil in low load periods in order to be able to supply enough heat to their customers.
Combined solution with biofuel
Solar heating in combination with bioenergy will reduce fuel consumption during the periods solar collectors supply heat.
Charging of energy wells
Solar heating can be used in combination with geothermal heat to charge under-dimensioned energy wells.
Solar powered cooling
Solar heat can be used for both sorptive cooling in ventilation units and as "thermal compressor" in absorption coolers.
Housing
Heating demands a large proportion of private energy consumption goes. Solar heating can cover a significant part of the heating requirement in single-family homes, duplex houses or apartment buildings.
Commercial
For commercial buildings with a large heating or cooling requirement, solar energy will provide a considerable financial gain, in addition to a desired environmental profile.
Agriculture
Solar heating and bioenergy are a good combination to meet the heating needs for grain drying, dairy farming, as well as housing and operating buildings.
Hospitals and care units
Institutions with a significant hot water needs will get good economic and environmental benefit from a solar heating system combined with district heating or other heat sources.
Three easy steps to get started
Make an estimate of your energy needs with our energy calculator
Contact us for free inspection and discussion of solution
We give you a non-binding offer based on your needs and preferences
Size of your solar heating system
Use our solar calculator to calculate your energy needs, how much solar energy you can produce, and the efficiency you can achieve when using our solar collector.
Conditions that determine your solar efficiency output
Geographic location, number of hours of sunshine and orientation relative to the direction of the sky are crucial factors for the efficiency of a solar heating system.
Download our solar energy calculator
Fill in your name and email address, and you will receive an email with a link to download Catch Solar's solar calculator.
Solar energy in combination with other heat sources
There are many advantages to utilizing solar energy for tap water and waterborne heating. The heat can be stored in a hot water tank or in heating wells when the heating requirement is lower than the production. To ensure sufficient energy for heating, it is appropriate to combine solar heat with biofuel, geothermal heat, district heating or electricity from solar cells.
In the autumn of 2017, the Norwegian Solar Energy Association issued a separate manual on solar heat,
which provides a thorough and good introduction to how different heat sources can be combined.
Catch Solar has a close dialogue with other players in the industry as a member of the Norwegian Solar Energy Association and through the Arena Solklyngen.
Key terminology in solar energy
When considering how the heat demand can be covered by solar energy, there are some concepts/terminology that are important to know.
An absorbent is the active surface of a solar collector. The absorbent can be made of different materials, and often the surface is coated with an absorbent dark coating that heats the rays of the solar energy. The heat is transferred to the heating medium via conduction (through the material the absorbent is made of) and convection (from the absorbent material to the working medium).
This model is widely used to calculate the sun's radiation on the earth's surface. It is based on empirical data of the radiation transmitted to equations and on the cumulative effect of aerosols, water vapor, ozone and other gases, and Rayleigh (molecular) scattering of the sunlight at the earth's surface. It is this model that forms the basis of our solar calculator.
This term is widely used to calculate the sun's radiation on the earth's surface. It is based on empirical data of the radiation transmitted to equations and on the cumulative effect of aerosols, water vapor, ozone and other gases, and Rayleigh (molecular) scattering of the sunlight at the earth's surface. It is this model that forms the basis of our solar calculator.
Solar cells convert solar rays into electric current using the photovoltaic effect, also called PV (Photo Voltaic). There are several types of solar cells with varying efficiencies, but the most common crystalline solar cells convert about 15-18% of the solar radiation to electrical current. For comparison, solar collectors will typically transform 60-80% of the sun's energy into heat.
A solar collector has a surface that collects solar heat and transfers this heat to a liquid flowing through the collector. The liquid then transfers the solar heat to a heat storage so that the solar energy can be utilized for heating and tap water. Solar heating systems typically have 4 times better energy utilization than solar cells.
Sunshine hours are the number of hours of clear blue sky and sunshine for a period of time. The number of solar hours the project is exposed to is the most important factor for utilizing solar energy in addition to the intensity (W / m2) of the solar radiation, which is determined by latitude
Vacuum tube collectors have coolant (typically glycol) flowing inside a copper tube surrounded by a vacuum tube and a glass tube on the outside. The theoretical advantages are lower convection and heat conduction from the heated copper through the vacuum tube and the outer glass tube. In practice, vacuum tube collectors provide good efficiency at temperature differences of more than 100 degrees C, compared to the temperature of the air.
Efficiency is another term for the efficiency of an energy system.
Investment and payback period
A rooftop of 100 m² receives solar radiation corresponding to five times as much energy as the house consumes over a year. Solar collectors transform solar rays into heat and provide efficient energy utilization with a high efficiency of 60-80%. A solar heating system has low life cycle costs and a typical payback period of 5-15 years
Support schemes from Enova
Enova provides financial support to building owners who invest in energy-reducing solutions and convert from fossil to renewable energy sources. The support schemes change over time. For updated guidelines, read more here:
Contact us
Pål Kloster, CEO
Tel 913 07 919