Solar Assisted Heat Pumps consist in an integration between heat pump and solar collectors, so that the heat supplied by the solar collectors is used to support the heat pump. These systems can be very convenient: in fact during the winter, when the solar collectors have reduced performances due to lower insolation and outdoor air temperatures, it is possible to exploit the low-temperature heat supplied by the solar collectors as auxiliary source for the heat pump.

Solar collectors can produce domestic hot water during the summer, in substitution to the heat pump. This article describes the experimental facility which has been realized by RSE consisting in a geothermal heat pump coupled with thermo-photovoltaic solar collectors. The thermal energy produced is used for heating both the domestic hot water and, at lower temperature, the water circulating in the geothermal circuit.
 
Results of the monitoring campaigns, shown in this article, allow to assess the actual performances of the geothermal heat pump and of the thermo-photovoltaic solar collectors and the best logic for using the two sources.