Marietta College Sustainability Dorm

Overview

Marietta College approached Pickering Energy Solutions to provide a solar energy system for their new Sustainability Demonstration Dormitory. The goal of the Dormitory program is to have the students become more aware of their energy consumption and to learn about efforts to conserve energy and live in a more sustainable manner.

Funded by a renewable energy grant the college was interested in providing both solar thermal and solar photovoltaic energy systems. Pickering Energy Solutions, working with Pickering Associates, provided the following systems:

1. A solar thermal water heating system which includes a solar thermal heating panel on the roof with an isolated glycol loop. This loop is heated by the sun and then runs through a heat exchanger which transfers this heat energy into the hot water tank. Depending upon the usage patterns and solar energy available this system could provide up to 25% of the thermal energy required for the domestic hot water use in the dormitory. This system is expandable by adding additional panels and an additional hot water storage tank.
2. A 2.0 kW solar photovoltaic array using Sharp 250 Watt polycrystalline panels and Enphase 215 Watt microinverters.  This system is easily expandable to approximately 22.5 kW. In its current configuration the array will produce about 3% of the energy that the dorm will use across the year. This system’s annual output is the equivalent energy used by an average US home for 90 days. When the system is expanded to its full capacity on the roof it would provide approximately 1/3 of the electrical energy needs of the building.

The initial 2012 photovoltaic power system at the Pioneer House, Marietta College’s Sustainability Demonstration Dormitory, was designed for easy expansion when it was initially installed. In the spring of 2014 Pickering Energy Solutions added additional panels (Phase II) to the system to bring the total capacity of the system to 6 kW. This is the threshold to which the system can be expanded without the requirement for re-wiring to the distribution system.

The final capacity of the PV system on the Dorm roof will be 19 kW.

Monitor PV Power Live

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• McCoy Athletic Facility