In a research station, the manufacturer my-PV has implemented the first hot water generation system in Namibia that is completely based on solar power. Calpak Solar Energy combined the ELWA water heater with a 1.6-kilowatt peak solar system and installed the device in a 200-litre electric boiler. The researchers in the remote Desert Lion Conservation Research Centre on the Namibian Skeleton Coast can now self-sufficiently supply themselves with hot water at this inhospitable location. Supplying them with fossil fuels or wood would have been much more expensive than generating energy with solar power.
Namibian researchers opt for hot water from PV electricity
“The project is now also opening up the field of combined heat and power generation from photovoltaics in Africa,” reports my-PV Managing Director Gerhard Rimpler. Falling module prices would make such projects more and more economical. The Namibian researchers opted for the ELWA solution from my-PV because it was not possible to use solar thermal products with exposed water reservoirs due to the prevailing cold Atlantic winds. In addition, the salty and sandy air would have strongly added to the materials used. “The hot water tank and the ELWA electronics are located in a container next to the research station, which protects them from all environmental influences,” explains Rimpler.
my-PV reports on further international projects at Intersolar Europe
The Austrian company plans to implement further international projects this year. “Particularly in research stations, deserts and emerging markets, we see many opportunities to implement sustainable heat generation with our ‘cable instead of pipe’ technology – independent of weather influences,” says Rimpler. From 15th to 17th May my-PV will be presenting the current status of its projects implemented worldwide at Intersolar Europe at Stand C4.110.
About my-PV
The manufacturer my-PV GmbH from Neuzeug, Austria, was founded in 2011 by former executives of a solar inverter manufacturer. Since then, it has developed into an important manufacturer for hot water with photovoltaics. The company started its first research project in the field of storage technology in 2012. In 2013, my-PV invented DC ELWA for hot water with photovoltaics (ELWA stands for electric hot water preparation) and successfully positioned it on the market in 2014.
This was followed in 2015 by the AC ELWA alternating current model, which converts excess electricity from grid-connected photovoltaic systems into heat. Since September 2016, AC ELWA-E has been available, which allows perfect surplus management in combination with battery systems of common inverters and energy management systems. With AC-THOR, the company goes one step further and also generates space heat solar-electrically.
