Solar energy-gas driven micro-CHP system for an office building

A hybrid solar-gas driven combined heat and power (CHP) system has been developed and tested for an office building in the UK. The installed thermal capacity of the solar collector was 25 kW. Solar energy, supplemented by a condensing gas boiler, was used to drive a 1.5 kW electrical micro-turbine generator unit. The system operates on the Rankine cycle. Two refrigerants (n-pentane and HFE-301) have been tested as working fluids for the system. This paper presents typical test results from operation of the system.