| dc.description.abstract | The contribution of alternative energy sources, particularly solar thermal, to diversify the Brazilian energy matrix is important, mainly due to increased demand of electricity consumption, caused by the progress and development of the population as well as the country. Part of this increase is a consequence of the simultaneous use of thousands of electric showers, mostly during peak hours, considered one of the chief responsible for the high peak in the demand curve between 6.00 and 9.00PM. Given this, the use of solar energy, through solar heating systems for domestic use, meets this purpose. After the analysis of the average monthly consumption of electricity provided by the supplier AES Sul in the period of one year in a residential complex in the city of Canoas – RS, it was possible to estimate the cost of using electric showers in that location, per household, which was between 25 to 30% of the electricity bill. The production of thermal energy through solar heating systems for preheating domestic hot water was simulated using the TRNSYS software for various system configurations (collector area and storage capacity). The relationship between energy demand for water heating and energy produced by SAS was parameterized using the concept of monthly and annual solar fraction, considering a minimum temperature of hot water of 40 ° C, and a profile of consumption corresponding to the average occupancy rate of households at the site. The climatic data required for the simulation were obtained from the typical meteorological year (TMY) to Porto Alegre and the results of several simulations showed that it is possible to get direct savings to the consumer up to 58% of energy consumed by electric shower and energy savings estimated at 12,399 kWh for the electricity system over a period of 20 years. These results can be improved by reducing the unit cost of SAS or through incentives from lowering the cost of expanding the capacity of the electric grid by suppliers, resulting from the change of the system load profile. | en |
