THE WENDOUREE SYSTEM
➲ Feature
THE NEW GOLD RUSH
This innovative shopping centre system uses concentrating solar-thermal technology to produce heat energy, which powers the air conditioning. Source: Ian Wilson / CSIRO
A trial project in the Victorian goldfields town of Ballarat is demonstrating the ability of rooftop-mounted solar thermal collectors and CSIRO-developed solar air conditioning technology to provide summer cooling, winter heating, and domestic hot water heating.
THE WENDOUREE SYSTEM
A solar collector field using parabolic trough collectors and a thermal storage system supplies heat to a closed-loop system. This uses two desiccant wheels to remove moisture from the air. A hightemperature wheel uses solar heat for regeneration, while a low-temperature wheel functions without external heat to deliver greater efficiency on the commercial scale.
You’ ve heard it before.
Australia’ s commercial office buildings are among the nation’ s biggest energy users, with HVAC in these buildings representing 50 to 60 per cent of that energy use. Nowhere is this more the case than in shopping centres.
Although their sprawling nature requires high levels of energy-intensive cooling during summer( and in some locations, heating during winter), their expansive, flat rooftops also offer great opportunity to make use of solar technology.
This opportunity has resulted in a CSIRO-led research project demonstrating the technical viability of a high-temperature, solar heat-driven two-stage desiccant air conditioning system on the roof of a shopping centre in regional Victoria.
Developed by the CSIRO using solar technology by NEP Solar, the demonstration system is being hosted at Stockland Group’ s Wendouree shopping centre in Ballarat, a regional centre 100km west-north-west of Melbourne.
The technology has been specifically developed by the CSIRO at its Newcastle facility in New South Wales to operate during high temperatures to enable high-efficiency operation.
Despite the small size of the prototype, CSIRO energy director Dr Peter Mayfield says the early results are extremely pleasing.
“ CSIRO’ s energy research is driving down costs of renewable technologies, accelerating the transition to a lower-emissions future,” Dr Mayfield says.
“ We are pioneering new technologies, and this project is a world-first demonstration of a desiccant air conditioning system using roof-mounted concentrating solar thermal collectors.”
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency( ARENA) has provided $ 520,000 to support the $ 1.2 million project, which is jointly managed by the CSIRO with the Stockland Group and NEP Solar.
20 | HVAC & R Nation | www. hvacrnation. com. au | August 2016