Category: Instant Sharing

At Create Solar’s ‘Living Lab’, the two RIPV demos are located 25m from each other, and serve different purposes.  One is at the bottom of the property, and functions as a section of the driveway for vehicles.  The other is at the top of the driveway, and functions as a human walkway.  Images of each are shown in previous posts .  After a winter of snow being effectively removed from both surfaces, it was decided to extend the thermal portion of the ‘solar walkway’ down to the end of the driveway.  This way, any excess thermal energy would be used to melt snow/ice on the path used for residents to walk up the driveway.  Images of the changes/upgrades are shown below.

After 30 minutes there was also a de-iced path between the two, as shown below:

After 45 minutes, it can be seen that the walkway is totally cleared:

Due to present uncertainty in the world and the potential for issues surrounding electric power security, the team at Create Solar has been working on providing customers with solutions to increase the reliability of their electricity source.  In tandem with several exclusive hardware providers, we are now able to offer an all encompassing renewable energy solution.  Our novel system addresses each of a customer’s potential power requirements, including the following:

• Battery backup for keeping essential loads operating in the event of a power outage, including options for all major battery chemistries
• The ability to sell excess energy directly to the grid from the solar PV source
• The option for storing power from the grid in the evenings when it may be cheaper to purchase, and selling it back to the grid during peak times when it may be worth more money
• The ability to integrate into an existing solar PV installation and use existing microinverters in off-grid mode
• The ability to prioritize the flow of power in every conceivable direction possible
• Remote monitoring of the entire system through a smartphone app

The setup of the functionality test at Create Solar’s ‘Living Lab’ is shown in the image below:

A diagram showing the various connections and hardware setup of the entire system is laid out in the following drawing:

This new and unique technology was tested in a real-world situation at an existing Create Solar PV installation in Sicamous, BC, Canada.

An image of the retrofitted hardware is shown below.

Create Solar is pleased to be able to offer this exciting new technology, and looks forward to continuing to be a leader in unique PV solutions for the Western Canadian market.

Several days ago, the thermal portion of the RIPV Demo Project at the Create Solar Living Lab had all the final glycol loop connections made to the existing system, as shown in the diagram below:

This came at perfect timing, since the next day Kelowna was treated with a bit of an early winter with several cm of snowfall overnight as shown in the following photo of the outside of the lab:

It was time to do our first real-world test on the de-icing portion of the system, and the appropriate valves were all turned on as shown in the new manifold below:

With the ambient outdoor temperature hovering around 0 degrees Celsius, and only 5 minutes after opening the thermal loops, evidence of snow removal can already be seen in the walkway (first image) and driveway (second image):

 

After 20 minutes:

After 35 minutes it can be seen that the walkway is totally cleared:

After 50 minutes the driveway is fully cleared as well, as shown below.  The additional time is due to a longer distance the glycol needs to travel from the thermal manifold.

Evidence of a successful real-world first test is great news for this innovative system developed by Create Solar!  Stay tuned for further updates as geothermal loops and electrical connections are made and tested.

Create Solar’s core R&D efforts are all centred around providing a full spectrum green energy solution for both residential and commercial clients in northern climates such as Canada.  As such, one of the latest developments we have been working on is an in-ground based solar thermal & electric system, which can be installed in locations such as driveways or footpaths.  When completed, this system will be the first of its kind in North America.  Its full functionality is as follows:

1. Generate electricity for a net-metered grid connection or off-grid independent system
2. Have the ability to de-ice the surface of the system in the winter using multiple different heat sources available, such as:
   • Vertical solar thermal evacuated tubes
   • Geothermal ground loops
   • Gas-fired boiler
   • Reverse electrical current from cleared solar electrical panels
3. Provide individual monitoring and control of small sections of the array for research & development purposes
4. Be able to cool the solar electric modules in the summer months to have them operate at a higher efficiency level, while at the same time dumping this excess heat into something useful such as the domestic hot water heater or the in-ground pool.

A diagram of this addition to the overall 727 Living Lab system is shown in the image below:

The physical portion of the system has already been installed and can be seen in progress in the following images:

Currently the team is working on making the physical connections to the control room, with next steps being the installation of all the electrical and thermal control circuitry and the geothermal loops.  Additional updates will be provided as the project progresses.  This is yet another piece of the net-zero home puzzle that Create Solar is aiming to provide for Canadian homeowners in order to alleviate climate change.

One of the core products Create Solar installs on residential and small commercial buildings is a Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) system.  The major technical parameters of this system are discussed in Part 1 of this post.  One of the issues arising from these parameters when using microinverters for the DC/AC power conversion, is the high temperatures which are seen by the inverters causing them to shutdown.  The previous post describes Create Solar’s first attempt at mitigating this problem by adding a venting channel snaking through the BIPV modules, and then blowing air through the channel on days when the attic temperature was above 30 degC.  This provided some relief, however more cooling was needed, and therefore the following two further possible solutions were explored:

1. Three of the microinverters were moved from directly behind the modules to inside the attic of the roof as shown in the images below:

This modification of the microinverter location seemed to have solved the overheating problem.  The image below shows the six modules (2 per microinverter) not shutting down due to temperature overload, unlike the other modules in their vicinity.  This solution is continuously being monitored to ensure there are no further issues.

2.  The second solution attempted was another type of forced venting like the initial modification discussed in the first post. However, the difference with this change was that it provided a venting path more inherent to how the BIPV combined solar electrical / solar thermal forced air system was originally designed to operate.  A basic schematic of this system is shown in the drawing below:

The microinverters were placed in air gap between the BIPV modules and the roof insulation.  This is the cavity were the air naturally gets forced through as it heats up between the modules and the roof.  Even though the air is warmed to the ambient temperature, there is a constant air flow which provides more effective heat transfer for the microinverters.  An image of the retrofit process is shown below:

This solution also proved to be effective, as the 9 modules which were changed did not shutdown like the adjacent modules during the hot summer afternoon.  This can been seen from the image of monitoring system below:

With the co-operation of the University of British Columbia Okanagan and a Mitacs Accelerate grant, Create Solar has been performing R&D on the most effective ways of clearing snow from rooftop Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic (BIPV) modules.   Many different types of technical solutions have been explored, including but not limited to: using waste heat from household furnace operations, electrical heat applied along edges, and electrically supplied convection currents behind the modules.  The image below shows one of the lab test setups used to carry out this research.

The research has provided valuable insight into the optimal solutions for keeping BIPV systems clear of snow in order to the produce electricity during the crucial winter months of northern climates, such as Kelowna, BC.  Many successful tests have been performed and Create Solar now has optimal solutions for a range of different setups and conditions.  The image below shows the snow melting off a single module within 1 hour of system activation.  The rest of the modules will eventually heat up from the electrical current produced by the cleared module, thus resulting in a snow-free system.

This has become another successful step in the right direction for Create Solar.  We are continuosly dedicated to researching and providing customers with all the best possible solutions to effectively implement renewable energy on homes in northern climates such as Canada.

 

One of the core products Create Solar installs on residential and small commercial buildings is a Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) system.  The major electrical technical parameters to note for this type of equipment are as follows:

1. The modules are functionally similar to a typical roof shingle with similar aesthetically pleasing features. Therefore, they cannot be as large in size as a conventional PV solar panel.
2. Since the modules are much smaller, it is a better design practice to use a microinverter system as opposed to a traditional string inverter setup.
3. Microinverter electrical design is most cost-effective and efficient when the units are installed close to the modules. This poses some issues for a rooftop BIPV system which also operates as a thermal air handling unit for solar HVAC.  This is because in the hot summer months the microinverters are prone to thermal shutdown without adequate ventilation and will stop producing power until they cool to within operating temperatures.

These parameters have caused many YC500 microinverters to shutdown for about 3 hours per day in the hot summer months.  The inverter dashboard screenshot below shows that 11 PV branches did not work consistently from 2pm to 5:30pm on July 21, 2019 due to thermal shutdown.

Create Solar’s first attempt at mitigating this problem was to add a venting channel snaking through the BIPV modules, and then add a controlled fan to blow air through the channel on days when the attic temperature was above 30 degC.  The designed venting route is shown in the diagram below.

An image of the venting system inside the attic is shown in the following image.

The proactive approach of forced venting provided some thermal relief to the microinverters.  Performance was better, as evidenced by the inverter dashboard screenshot for a similarly hot day below, which shows that there were less inverter shutdowns.

However, it was noticed that the long venting route reduced the effectiveness of the cooling system, and therefore there were still some inverters shutting down due to temperature.  To provide further thermal relief, a new system has been devised by the team at Create Solar, which will be discussed in our subsequent updates.

In order to fully utilize all available space for energy generation, Create Solar has developed a ‘Solar Railing’ product.  These Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic (BIPV) modules replace traditional glass pane railing options, and offer customizable levels of privacy while producing power at the same time.  The image below shows a real-world installation in Kelowna, BC.

The overall look and feel of the installed product is very minimal, as all cabling can be conveniently tucked away in the aluminum railing.  They are designed to be used with micro-inverters, which allow each small group of panels to produce at their maximum output, regardless of shading.  Currently they are being manufactured in two standard sizes, 50W & 100W.  They are also available in a slanted configuration for sloping/staircase applications as shown in the following image:

These high-end PV modules have been tested to the most stringent industry standards, and have recently received full certification, including CSA, ULC, and TÜV.  Further electrical and mechanical specifications are shown in the datasheet below.  This ‘Solar Railing’ product by Create Solar is another important step in appropriately integrating renewable technology in order to realize fully net zero homes.