SOLAR FROM ELCO REELS IN THE HIGHLANDS
The recently opened Highland Archive Centre in Inverness is enjoying sustainable heating and hot water thanks to four square metres of AURON® 20 DF solar panels, two 504kW R606 floor standing condensing boilers and a 300 litre AQUAPRIMO stainless steel water cylinder – all supplied by ELCO.
The installation was part of a £10.5 million investment by the Heritage Lottery Fund and The Highland Council.
The new centre includes an archive conservation unit, ceremony suite and modern office accommodation. There is also a dedicated family history centre to allow visitors to trace their family tree and cross reference it with the on site registration service. Specialist controls have been installed to safeguard all the stored records which had previously been held in Edinburgh.
AURON® DF is a direct flow-through vacuum tube collector which has been developed for both domestic hot water and back-up heating. It has an extremely flexible and stable mounting system to make alignment towards the sun simple. Together with the innovative hydraulic construction of the collector, every possible variation of roof, wall and floor positioning is available to the installer. By rotating the tubes the absorber plate can be aligned so that an optimal angle to the solar radiation can be achieved. The conversion of the sun’s rays into heat energy occurs via an absorber plate in an evacuated glass tube to ensure heat loss into the ambient air is negligible.