Greentech Lead America: SolTherm, a clean energy services
firm, will install a solar energy system at the University of North Carolina.
The system is expected to cut annual hot water costs in Mills Residence Hall by
29 percent.
By replacing their previous energy source with the solar
energy system from SolTherm, the student dormitory, which uses an average of
6,000 gallons of hot water per day, is expected to save more than $81,000 over
the life of the system.
The system will consist of 64 collector panels which
receive the sun’s energy and transfer it to heat the dormitory’s water supply.
Completion of the system is projected for summer of 2012.The water is stored in
an insulated tank and is used throughout the day for laundry and showering,
allowing hot water to be accessed even when the sun is not shining.
“As anyone involved in this project would tell you, it
was a real challenge to pave the way in implementing a third-party ownership
model to incorporate clean energy technology on a UNC campus,” said Drew Kitt,
SolTherm’s VP of Business Development.
UNC-Asheville is the first campus in the UNC system to
incorporate a third-party ownership model in order to benefit from clean energy
technology without the up-front capital cost through SolTherm’s NoCapEx
program.
NoCapEx is an industry-leading clean energy program that
provides immediate hot water savings and long-term cost predictability with no
capital investment.
“It is truly exciting to have a team including UNCA
alumni contribute to the campus’ sustainability efforts. This project will be
one of the first of its kind on a public university campus in the state, and we
can hardly wait until it is operational,” said Don Gordon, design &
construction director.
Recently, SolTherm installed
a solar energy system at Henderson County Detention Center, a 543-occupant
detention facility. The system enables the facility to cut hot water costs by
45 percent.
editor@greentechlead.com