Project Overview:
At the time of installation, Oxford Gardens Solar Project was Canada’s largest solar thermal cooling and heating installation in Canada. It’s innovative design was awarded the Dena Solar Roofs Program for Foreign Market Development in 2009 and the Intersolar North America Award for its innovations and excellence in solar thermal technology in 2012. The project includes the installation of 3,240 Akotec Direct Flow vacuum tubes (162 collectors) with a peak output of 342.8 KW(t). Providing 100% of the space cooling for the original building footprint of 99,000 square feet with 112 residents in 101 individual suites, the system saves approximately 100,000KWh/year of electricity and 12,000 cubic meters of natural gas. With additional capacity available in the HVAC system, no new heating or cooling equipment was required during construction of a 75,000 square foot addition in 2013.
System Components & Performance
Solar Thermal System
- Collectors: 162 x Akotec, 20 Tube Direct Flow Collectors
- Peak Output: 1,169,654 BTU (th)/h (342.8 KW) *
- Solar Tanks: 2 x 450 Liter (119USG) storage tanks
- Lineset: Over 4,000 ft. of Stainless Steel piping
* Peak Output taken from the Enerworks Akotec Solar Keymark certificate.