The Agence de l’efficacité énergétique has granted $20,000 in financial assistance to Écobâtiment, a division of the Centre de l’environnement, to test the performance of a concentrating solar collector in a Nordic climate.
The heat-transfer fluid flowing through the solar collector collects the heat and transports it through pipes to the central hot water heating system of the building and to the domestic hot water heater, both of which are usually heated using natural gas. Another goal of the project is to determine the best strategy for managing heat in a building using a thermal bank in order to take maximum advantage of available solar energy.
The concentrator will be installed on the green roof of the main building of the Centre culture et environnement Frédéric Back, a model of a green, sustainable, innovative, and viable structure intended to house over 30 cultural, environmental, and other social economy organizations. The project will benefit from this technology showcase to increase awareness of the advantages of solar energy and its viability when exploited using this solar collector technology, which has only recently become available on the Québec market.
The concentrating collector is extremely efficient, with an anticipated performance of 60%, which is superior to the 35% typical of evacuated-tube collectors. In addition, it should be much less affected by the cold than the evacuated-tube collectors, whose performance falls to 10 to 15% in such conditions.
The solar collector should result in savings of 3,800 m3 of natural gas a year, which corresponds to 7.2 tons of CO2, or the equivalent of removing 2 standard cars from the road.
The financial assistance from the Agence de l’efficacité énergétique was granted under the Energy Innovation Assistance Program (PAIE), which is intended to support the development of new energy efficient and emerging energy technologies.
To apply for assistance under the PAIE Program, please consult the PAIE section.
To find out more about AEE programs, consult the Programs and financial assistance section.
Lexicon
Concentrating solar collector: Solar collector that concentrates the sun’s energy on a small surface and is used for high-temperature applications like heating buildings and water and producing industrial heat to generate steam to produce electricity.
Heat-transfer fluid: A liquid used to transport heat from one point to another.
Back
