Den ekonomiska lönsamheten för solvärme i Sverige

Sammanfattning: The sun is an endless energy source and the heat it produces can be used to heatup our homes. This technology is relatively old and was introduced in the late70-s. There are two kinds of solar collectors that are most frequently used todayand these are plain solar collectors and vacuum solar collectors. The plain solarcollectors are the once that are used the most but the vacuum solar collectorshave increased more as a percentage the last couple of years.The biggest question asked regarding an investment in solar heating is if theplant is economically profitable. This question has no direct answer because itis dependent on a couple of prerequisites. These prerequisites are for examplewhich the existing heating system is used for the house, the accumulator tankbeing used and the houses orientation to mention a few.An investment in solar heating can be considered if the existing heating systemis either oil heating or direct electrical heating. The ground for this is that theprices for these fuels have increased a great deal in the last couple of years andbecause of that solar heating can be competitive. On the contrary, if you havean existing system that is either wood heating, pellets or long-distance heatingthe investment in solar collectors would not in most cases be profitable. Otherreasons could be current here like the environmental winnings. The sun is aclean and “free” heating method and this has been the reason why some peoplehave decided to invest in it. The energy that is produced by the solar collectorsis free and the economical calculation is based on the investment cost, whichoften is expensive, spread over the life-span of the system.There have been state funds to apply for over the years. These have caused theinvestment cost to sink for the plants ant the interest to increase. There are acouple of state funds to apply for and these can not be combined. The one mostcommonly used is SFS 2000:287 – förordning om statligt bidrag tillinvesteringar I solvärme that was introduced in the year 2000 and concernedsolar heating. This is a contribution that is bound to the yearly heat exchangethe plant can produce and it can, at most, give 7 500 Swedish crowns in funds.This regulation was replaced in the year 2008 by the regulation SFS 2008:1247– Förordning om stöd för investeringar I solvärme that is a similar edict wherethe difference lies in the calculation process for the amount of the funds that aregiven for the plant. As in the earlier regulation the maximum amount of thecontribution is 7 500 Swedish crowns per household.A new state fund contribution is proposed where the changes are to increase thecontribution to 3,90 kr per kWh with a maximum amount of 12 000 kr perhouse. The contribution will not include bigger projects and will extend over aperiod of 4 years with a total budget of 160 000 000 kr.