Photovoltaic-Thermal (PVT) Installation

In the heart of Gloucestershire Encraft was recently set a new challenge in the domestic photovoltaic market. An alternative energy source was sought not solely to provide electricity to the house, but also to provide heat for domestic hot water and a swimming pool.

With a South facing rear roof Encraft engineer Andrew Hanson began designing the project based around a series of AnafSolar H-NRG Photovoltaic-Thermal (PVT) panels. With a peak electrical output of 3.22kWp, and an average annual thermal output of around 8,917kWh, the system was designed to contribute towards both the domestic hot water load and the swimming pool itself.

The PVT panels not only provide the house and pool with electricity and hot water, but with the addition of an aluminium heat exchanger, which is applied on the back face of the collector, the solar thermal works as a cooling system for the photovoltaic collectors. This, in turn, improves the efficiency of the panels and thus increases the yearly kWh production.

With a nominal average electrical output of 2,122 kWh per year, along with gas and electric savings in the region of £650, and a Feed-in Tariff income of £918, the design, implementation and delivery was a great success.

Have a look at the photos below of the project:

For more information email us at enquiries@encraft.co.uk, or give us a call on 01926 312159.

Installation by Eco2Solar (http://www.eco2solar.co.uk/).

Introduction

Welcome to Encraft's first blog post.

This blog has been established to compliment our website (www.encraft.co.uk), as well as our YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/EncraftUK) and our Twitter account (http://twitter.com/Encraft_UK).

Here we'll post regular updates on what we've been up to as a company, anything our team might have done, or our thoughts on the renewables industry itself. Hopefully we'll have a few guest bloggers here too.

For those of you who are not familiar with who we are, here's some background information:

Encraft is a leading independent consulting engineering firm specialising in microgeneration, on site renewables and low carbon buildings.

We work with commercial and community organisations, public bodies, and private homeowners to design and implement bespoke solutions to meet specific needs.

The company employs engineers of all disciplines, physicists and specialists in community engagement. We have in depth experience in all renewable and traditional energy technologies.

One of the areas we have explored recently is Passivhaus, and specifically Passivhaus Retrofit. Below is a short introduction to one of our projects.

Thanks for reading.

Encraft