Hudson Solar Firm's Hybrid Array Largest In U.S.
Over the next few weeks, Hudson-based SunDrum Solar, with the aid of installers, will help Brown University - and Rhode Island - make history.
SunDrum is behind Rhode Island's first heat-and-power hybrid solar installation project, at Brown University's Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatic Center. The 168 solar panels on the building's roof for the $800,000 solar-powered electrical and heating system are expected to be turned on next week. The panels are expected to provide enough energy to power the lights and heat the million gallons of water in the facility's pool.
For SunDrum founder and CEO Michael G. Intrieri, the project, which began last year, contains a number of firsts. "Brown is our first collegiate sale, the first time we're doing an Olympic-sized pool and the first time we're doing (a project) of this size," he said.
It's also the largest hybrid installation of its kind in the nation.
‘LEGO' Land
Intrieri, who designed his first hybrid solar power system in 1975, started SunDrum in his basement in 2008. SunDrum's first commercial sale was in 2010.
With a project like the Brown aquatic center, it's all about making his solar electricity systems fit the structure, he said. "From my perspective, what we do is we design kits," he said, "and those kits increase the size of the system. I call it adding LEGOs," he said. We kind of just scaled to a larger extent at Brown."
Intrieri said the largest hybrid solar panel array right now is on the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. Federal Building in Boston, with 100 panels. When completed, the Brown University project will have 21 rows of solar panels on most of the center's roof space, he said.
"This system is a great demonstration project of how renewable energy can be utilized in a city environment and provides a living lab for students," said Chris Powell, Brown's director of sustainable energy and environmental initiatives, in a statement.
The panels - which are being installed by Waltham-based Sunlight Solar Energy Inc. - collect and use the sun's heat not only to provide power but to cool the panels as well. This, in turn, boosts output to heat the pool water more efficiently. A membrane siphons the sun's warmth to heat glycol, which keeps the pool water at a more comfortable temperature in the summer and preheats it to about 60 degrees in the wintertime.
Intrieri said the array will help offset the university's electric and natural gas bills. "We estimate that Brown will save 160MWh (megawatt hours, equivalent to 160,000 kilowatt hours) of annual energy with this system," he said. SunDrum's website touts commercial establishments that use a lot of hot water, such as schools, multi-tenant housing facilities and car washes as perfect candidates for a hybrid solar array system.
As for the Brown University project, with the 168 panels in place, the center is slated to open to swimmers April 13 - a target date that's still on track, said Intrieri.
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