International Journal of Environmental Studies, Vol. 63, No. 6, December 2006, 791-802 International Journal of Environmental Studies ISSN 0020-7233 print: ISSN 1029-0400 online … … 2006 Taylor & Francis http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/00207230601047156 Solar thermal energy systems in Australia KEITH LOVEGROVE AND MIKE DENNIS Solar Thermal Group, Department of Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia, keith.lovegrove@anu.edu.au(Received 17 September 2006) Australia has …

Low temperature systems for home and industry Solar water heating During the 1950s, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) carried out world leading research into flat plate solar water heating [1]. As a result, a solar water heater manufacturing industry was established in Australia. A large proportion of the manufacturing capacity was exported. Four of the original companies are still in business and the manufacturing base has expanded to 24 companies. Despite an excellent solar resource, the penetration of solar water heaters in the Australian domestic market is only about 5% and these sales are predominantly into new dwellings. There has been a recent surge in growth of sales of solar water heaters based on the generation of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) under the federal government’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, together with additional subsidy programs offered by various state governments. The companies offering commercial systems can largely be identified from the list of certified providers of RECs on the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator’s website [2]. Rheem Australia, via its ownership of the Solahart and Edwards brands, remains the dominant manufacturer. Most companies provide very similar flat plate collector based systems for domestic hot water. Solco is notable in offering a system made from injection moulded plastic. A few commercial systems based on evacuated tube collectors are also on the market. By collector area, a large proportion of water heater sales are unglazed pool heating units. There are a number of established manufacturers with no single manufacturer having a dominant market share. Until recently, the domestic water heating market was dominated by flat plate systems with roof mounted tanks operating on the thermosiphon principle. Recently, pumped systems with ground mounted tanks are being offered in areas not prone to frost and evacuated tube systems are gaining popularity in cooler climates. Each of these types currently has about 7% share of the solar hot water market. Much of the research work on solar water heaters in Australia has been carried out at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Recently, performance studies on evacuated tube systems have been carried out. Convection models were developed for flooded evacuated tube solar collectors [3]. Mantle heat exchangers have been studied by UNSW in cooperation

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