Solar Heating Partnerships
FAFCO, a manufacturer of solar pool-heating collectors, uses this panel former in its manufacturing process. Extruded polymer tubing is continuously fused into 4-ft widths, which are then cut into panels that become part of the finished solar pool-heating collector.
The Solar Technology Program set a goal of cutting the cost of solar water heaters in half. In an effort to meet this goal, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) have been actively investigating the use of low-cost polymer materials in the design of the next generation of solar water-heating systems.
Several solar-industry manufacturers and university research teams were awarded cost-shared contracts to focus on low-cost solar water-heating systems. The following companies are developing and testing field-scale prototypes of low-cost system designs:
- FAFCO Inc. (Redwood City, California)
- Davis Energy Group (Davis, California)/SunEarth Inc. (Honolulu, Hawaii).
In addition, NREL established contracts with the following universities to support and refine low-cost system designs and polymer-manufacturing processes:
- Colorado School of Mines (Golden, Colorado)
- University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
- University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin)
- University of Colorado (Boulder, Colorado)
- University of Akron (Akron, Ohio).
Industry partnerships are crucial to the success of the research and development conducted in the Solar Technology Program. Cost-shared projects, Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, and manufacturing assistance are all technology-transfer mechanisms used to help stimulate markets and continue developing solar technologies for buildings.
SNL and NREL work closely with industry partners to develop technology improvements, reduce manufacturing costs, monitor system performance, and identify potential new markets for these technologies.