Spar outlet reduce consumption by 36% with Solar Cool.
The 4,000ft sq Spar retail outlet in Glen Easton, Leixlip, was introduced to SunSource by the Irish Spar operator BWG Foods as a representative demonstration site. BWG Foods has a strong presence across the Republic of Ireland through its brand portfolio of Spar, Eurospar, Mace, Londis, XL, Xpress Stop and Value Chain, incorporating over 1,000 retail outlets and convenience stores.
The graph to the left illustrates that the refrigeration system’s average daily savings in electricity consumption are running at 41.5% compared with levels before the installation of
SolarCool’s innovative technologies -this is achieved in the depths of winter’s short days and in Ireland! This showcases that while the solar collectors only contribute savings when the sun shines, the in
store technologies are contributing 24/7. The graph is based on data from measurements taken by multi-meter before and from monitored consumption after the installation.
Michael O’Connor said: “This is a showcase for how the SolarCool family of products performs in the Irish context. A comparable installation across a chain of 13 Filling Stations with convenience stores – the Spar-branded Kay Group in the North of England – has delivered a 36% reduction in electricity consumption on average across its stores over the last 13 months – in line with original projections from SolarCool”.
Intel Quark and Solar Cool
Intel Quark Brian Quinn, director of the Intel Labs Europe Innovation Programme, said: “We have successfully integrated the Intel Quark technology with SunSource’s ingenious energy solution at a local Spar outlet as a test site. The platform and overall solution allows for real-time, remote assessment of energy supply (renewables) and usage within the store, giving opportunity for breakthrough intelligence and hence further efficiency actions. Ultimately assessment will be available to the store owner on a user device such as a smart phone or tablet.”
SunSource Energy Michael O’Connor, managing director of SunSource, said: “We had been looking at the Intel Quark product for some time, it has a number of benefits, not only its core ability to collect the data the customer needs from SolarCool and other energy efficiency installations to see the savings, but even the neatness of the product makes it very versatile for the retail refrigeration applications we are working with. It goes further than electricity of course, on to other resources like water and gas, pretty much anything that can be metered or measured.”
Cummins Generators cuts energy usage by 50% with Solar Cool
The test system offered to Cummins Generator Technologies was a 120kW Chiller system used for cooling the offices at its site in Lynch Wood, Peterborough.
SolarCool has installed its patented multiplexed thermal collection system on the main discharge from the compressors, therefore allowing both compressors to utilise the free energy generated by the sun.
Chris Micallef, technical director for SolarCool International said: “We have retrofitted SolarCool to many different makes of chiller around the world and this system is no different. Therefore we fully expect to achieve savings in line with suns availability as we do elsewhere. In the Bahamas for example we achieve ROI’s as low as six months, simply because they get lots of sun. However we still expect this system to achieve an ROI of no more than two years.”
Justin McKay added: “It’s still very early days, but so far we are seeing efficiencies over 50% reduction in electricity usage. That said we will need to get a least a few more months under our belt before we can commit to further installs, however it all looks positive so far.”