Abengoa Solar has inaugurated a turnkey solar hot water heating system at the Federal Bureau of Prisons Correctional Facility in Englewood, Colo. Abengoa installed the system under contract to Johnson Controls.
The system consists of 160 parabolic PT-1 collector modules comprising 22,720 square feet of collector area situated on 1.7 acres of land area. The latest generation of ASI's PT-1 parabolic concentrator module was used, and the solar collectors were manufactured at ASI's headquarters in Lakewood, Colo., in accordance with ISO 9001 standards.
The parabolic troughs track the sun continually during the day to focus light from the sun onto a receiver tube at the focal point of the parabola. Under peak conditions, the solar field will collect over 4 million Btu/h (1,170 kWh) of thermal energy, Abengoa Solar says.
The system uses a single 5 HP pump consuming 2.5 kWh of electrical energy. Hot water is stored in the tank at temperatures up to 85 C (185 F) and delivered to serve the needs of over 1,000 inmates and staff.
SOURCE: Abengoa Solar