TAKING LESSONS
BEFORE THE GOLD RUSH
➲ Feature
Rooftop concentrating solar-thermal collectors. Source: Ian Wilson / CSIRO
According to ARENA chief executive officer Ivor Frischknecht, the lessons from this project will help power Australian renewable energy innovation well into the future.
“ It has the potential to further improve the efficiency of solar-thermal energy systems and storage to provide clean and reliable heating and cooling in commercial buildings,” Frischknecht says.
TAKING LESSONS
The CSIRO will continue to assess and monitor the technology installed at Stockland Wendouree for the next 12 months to establish the long-term commercial viability of the system. However, it has already identified a number of lessons that will benefit the wider HVAC & R industry.
It says the potentially significant costs involved with integrating solar systems onto an existing building rooftop are easily underestimated.
This includes the potential cost of additional super-structures required to be installed to support the installation of trough collectors and the solar air conditioning unit. The super-structures also distribute the load onto the existing building structure.
Due to the intermittent nature of the availability of sunshine on the solar collectors, the CSIRO says careful consideration of the solar heat delivery system is important. The use of thermal storage to provide a reliable heat source is also key.
The project also highlighted the knowledge gaps that exist in establishing the suitability of a roof for structurally supporting solar thermal systems
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.
in the feasibility stages of a project. It also identified gaps in the availability of standardised mounting accessories for solar collectors with high loads( including wind loads) based on existing building rooftop types.
It also found a reduction in the overall weight and size of the temperature-desiccant air conditioning system prototype would benefit its wider adoption.
From a skills and knowledge perspective, this project also revealed a lack of expertise among HVAC tradespeople in emerging technologies such as desiccant systems and indirect-evaporative coolers.
This lack of local expertise resulted in CSIRO engineers from Newcastle spending more time on site than planned.
The CSIRO believes HVAC contractor training in emerging technologies such as these may enable more efficient project delivery.
BEFORE THE GOLD RUSH
The CSIRO-developed, solar-powered air conditioning system at Stockland Wendouree shopping centre will continue to be monitored by CSIRO and its partners for a year. This will determine its long-term operation and performance across all seasons.
Commercialising the technology will then require the engineering of an optimal design. Collection of long-term performance and life-cycle assessment data in a relevant environment will also be completed.
To this end, the CSIRO is seeking commercialisation investment to carry out these investigations and further optimise the design to realise a thermal COP of 1.
So while no one is crying“ Eureka!” just yet, they soon could be. n
Source: Hybrid concentrating solar thermal systems for large scale applications by the CSIRO. Published by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency( ARENA), April 2016 www. arena. gov. au
22 | HVAC & R Nation | www. hvacrnation. com. au | March 2016