KCP Energy and industry news and events
Solar power to boost ice surface savings
By Tanya Foubert - Rocky Mountain Outlook
January 29, 2009
KCP Energy's Geoff Domenico, right, and Town of Canmore supervisor of facilities, Lloyd Smith, at the official commissioning of the Canmore Rec Centre's new solar water heating initiative. The project will see solar energy, instead of natural gas heat Zamboni water.
Craig Douce Rocky Mountain Outlook
The Town of Canmore this week launched a program to supply its two ice resurfacers at the Rec Centre with hot water heated by solar power.
Facilities supervisor Lloyd Smith unveiled the program last Thursday (Jan. 22), saying 10 solar thermal collector panels now mounted on the facility's roof will pre-heat water in three tanks to use a minimum of one-fifth the energy annually needed to create ice on the two rinks.
"The biggest user of hot water is the Rec Centre," Smith said. "We use it in the Zamboni at a temperature between 160 and 170 degrees Fahrenheit, that equates to a lot of hot water."
On a typically busy weekend, the two ice-surfacing machines can flood the two ice surfaces up to 32 times per day using approximately 370 litres each time. That is a potential 11,840 litres of hot water.
As to why hot water creates better quality ice Smith explained it has less oxygen, bonds to the surface better, it smoothes uneven surfaces better and makes "harder" ice.
The system is expected to save a minimum of one-fifth the energy needed annually, but Smith said depending on operations and the weather, it has the potential to provide more.
"It is greater than one-fifth the energy... that is an absolute worst-case scenario," he said.
The water is pre-heated by solar energy and a high-efficiency boiler used to reach the temperatures required for the two resurfacers. If the critical temperature is reached, use of the boiler is avoided, which will increase its life expectancy.
KCP Energies president Geoff Dominico explained the average amount of solar energy gathered per day in Canmore is quite good.
"Alberta as a whole and Canada as well are good locations for solar," Dominico said. "It is not just a financial payback, there is a social payback as well.
"Canmore has chosen to lead by example and begin the process of changing now for a more sustainable future."
He said the money saved in energy bills would pay for the system in 13 years. As it turns out, Canmore received full grant funding to pay for the project from Alberta Transportation.
It should also reduce operating costs for the Rec Centre, which will be tracked over the next year.
Domenico said the project's social benefits equal the utility bill savings. It is expected to save seven tonnes of green house gas emissions per year.
Mayor Ron Casey applauded the project and the fact Canmore as a community has businesses with the understanding and know-how to implement these technologies for a more sustainable future.
"This is a really practical day-to-day application," Casey said. "A lot of the time it is difficult for all of us to see where (this technology) ties in practically (in our daily lives)."
This is the second of third solar power project the Town has started and in the 2009 capital budget, another four are planned.
The Senior's Centre, Public Works building and Civic Centre are all slated to have solar hot water systems installed over the next year.
he Rec Centre is also expected to have a domestic solar hot water system installed that will provide hot water for the front area of the building, pool change rooms, washrooms and the kitchen.
The first use of photovoltaic solar panels was on the Senior's Centre roof in December 2007. They were part of a province-wide project with Climate Change Central. The cells create electricity that feeds into the electrical grid when the energy created is not used up completely.
The project included a website to monitor the energy created by the cells and compare it to the other 17 locations in Alberta that also participated.
"We had a great opportunity to provide a lot of public education with regards to this project," Smith said. "There were very few grid connected systems before this."
He added the project taught a lot of contractors throughout the province how to connect a similar system, transforming direct current (DC) to the alternating current (AC) used by the grid.
As it turns out, the project also demonstrated the permitting process to connect to the provincial electrical grid was onerous on those using the photovoltaic technology. That process has since changed.
"The biggest legacy of this project we are most proud of is prior to this, in order to connect to the grid, people had to go through paperwork similar to building a nuclear generator," Smith said. "It is because of the work Climate Change Central did, we did and the group did that this changed."
The Alberta Utilities Commission has also changed its rules with a Micro-Generation Regulation passed in February 2007. The regulation allows those generating their own environmentally friendly electricity to receive credit for any power they send into the provincial grid.
Council also voted last year to place 10 solar thermal collector panels on the roof of the Palliser affordable rental housing project for domestic hot water. The first phase currently under construction will also use heat recovery ventilators and high-efficiency condensing boilers.
Domenico, whose company won the bid to work on Palliser, said the hot water system being installed is targeted to provide energy for 45 per cent of the hot water used annually.
The Town is planning to put up a display at the Rec Centre to explain the project and the panels stick out from the roof, drawing attention to the sustainability initiative.
Smith said it also taught the municipality that there are important roof warranties to be considered when installing the technology.
This year, the town is planning on installing the photovoltaic cells (correction – “solar thermal system” not “solar photovoltaic”) on the Civic Centre.
That means the Town could apply to have the silver LEEDS green building rating certification changed to gold.
Domenico said there is a third use for photovoltaic cells (correction – “solar energy” not “solar photovoltaic cells”) that the Town has not tried yet. It is a solar air system and is typically used for large air spaces like gyms, industrial bays or even multiplexes he added.
Although the application is possible, Domenico added KCP Energy does not provide that specific technology.
