Commercial Solar Grants

There is a misunderstanding that only collectors that have SRCC test data or CSA appred collectors were acceptable for the EcoENERGY commercial solar hot water heating grants. This was not the case. Under the EcoENERGY grant program for commercial solar water heating systems the government maintainer a list of acceptable solar collectors.

Latitude51 Solar Collectors were tested by the TUV facility in Germany and were accepted by EcoENERGY on their List of accepted collectors.

ecoENERGY list of accepted solar collectors has now been removed by the EcoENERGY Department.

As the link does not work any more, we have saved this list in PDF form -click here for a copy

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Important Information regarding the CSA Verification list

The "list" is now being "maintained" by the CSA.... Anyone looking at buying collectors on this CSA Verification list needs to read this article first, as the list is not exactly what it initially seems!

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What information can you get from the EcoENERGY list of acceptable collectors?

In Europe there are also a number of other very large testing facilities including the TUV Reinland group and Solar keymark. As Europe has been more advanced than the US and Canada in Solar for many years these European companies have a long track record in testing solar collectors.

The Canadian solar industry has been gaining ground and has been encouraged by the Canadian Government EcoENERGY department and the EcoENERGY department maintained a list of collectors that they deemed to be good quality and have been approved by them, which met the CSA F378-87 standard.

The EcoENERGY list also shows the size and gives an "performance rating" for each collector model. This performance factor is an indication of how efficient each collector is. However please remember that it DOES NOT indicate which collector produces more heat than any other on the list

The list is used to calculate the incentive available for each collector listed.

It can be used as a guide to the power/heat output of each collector and what you should pay for it!

Example 1

Collector A = 4 meter², performance factor = 0.8

Collector B = 4 meter², performance factor = 1.0

If 2 collectors are exactly the same size and one has a higher Performance factor (collector B), then Collector B is "on paper" a better collector. However, if the collector A is cheaper then this might be the best option as you get more BTU's for your money.

Example 2

Collector A = 4 meter², performance factor = 0.8. Cost $900

Collector B = 2 meter², performance factor = 1.0 Cost $1200

In this case, collector B is more efficient at turning sunlight to hot water, BUT it is also half the size of collector A.

In this case collector A is a much better deal as it costs $900. To get the same heat from collector B, you would need about 1.8 X collector B. You cant buy less than a whole collector so you would need to buy 2 of collectors B at $1200 each for a similar amount of heat!

Your choice, $900 or $2400 for a similar amount of heat!

Just because the performance factor of a particular collector is high, it does NOT mean that it will produce more heat than a collector with a lower performance factor. The heat output also depends on how large the collector is.

Note however that the size listed on the EcoENERGY website is the physical size of the collector (how much room it takes up on your roof. This is the size used for calculating the EcoENERGY Grant (see below for more info)

Hence the physical size does not tell you what the aperture area is? The aperture are is the amount of the collector which can collect sunlight. See article at the end of this document for details. In general though the physical size can be used as a rough guide.

You get the idea.

Commercial Solar Collectors - Incentives.

The data on this list of collectors is used to determine the size of the EcoENERGY commercial incentive program grant/rebate by using this equation....

Incentive amount = Area x Performance Factor x $275

The incentive pays out $275 per square meter of collector, pro-rated depending on the efficiency factor.

For our collectors this equals

4.673 x 0.81 x $275 = $1041 PER Latitude51 Solar collector.

You can calculate the same for any other collector

for example

•  Apricus = 4.053 x 0.87 x $275 = $969.68
• Viessman (300T) = 4.287 x 0.76 x $275 = $895.98
• Enerworks (NL commercial collector) = 2.873 x 1.07 x $275 = $845.38
• Enerworks (TL residential collector) = 2.874 x 0.78 x $275 = $616.47

These are the amounts the Canadian Federal EcoENERGY program will pay for EACH collector installed on a commercial building. It can be used just as a guide to the amount of heat each collector will produce relative to another one. Although it doesn't directly tell you which collector produces more heat, you can infer from the rebates which produce more heat. It is then up to you to find out what the cost of each collector is and see if it is worth the money!

 ...based on this list of well known, well respected brands, Latitude51 Solar collectors have the following advantages......

1. The highest rebate per collector

2. We also offer the best prices for collectors.

3. This translates to the biggest rebate for clients.

Remember that if your project needs a certain amount of heat from solar to meet your goals then the number of each collector you will need will vary depending on the specifications of that collector.

We can assist you with this calculation. Please contact us for details.

This means for the client.....

• Highest rebate and best price = maximum Payback or Return on Investment
• A large solar versus a smaller collector means less install costs. For a given heat requirement, you need as much heat with the least number of collectors. Larger collectors mean less panels to attach to your roof.

PLEASE NOTE THIS INCENTIVE PROGRAM ENDS AT THE END OF 2010.

Newsletter Sep 2010 - Demystifying the Solar Thermal Market