Case study: Mining Sector

Selected Energy completed an installation on a leading mining company in South Africa during January 2010. This commercial water heating solution provides 30 000 litres of hot water to the site’s five change houses per shift, using a combination of 200 flat plate collectors, 10 heat pumps and the unique Solahart Heat Store energy storage system.

The following variables were taken into consideration when the projected future hot water usage on this greenfield installation was determined:

• The amount of people in need of hot water
• The amount of time between showers
• The amount of hot water needed per person per shower (Some commercial and industrial sites might need more hot water per person showering than other, depending on the origin of work being done on site)
• Laundry requirements
• The amount of hot water needed per washing machine
• Space heating requirements

The amount of workers per shift, the amount of shifts per day and the amount of hot water needed per shower played a part in identifying the best possible energy usage solution.

"We noticed that, generally speaking the peak demand for hot water is at the 2 p.m. shift change.  Based on the determination of the consumption patterns, we could identify the best possible solution. However, we had to integrate our solar thermal solution with an existing water heating infrastructure, which influenced the solution we offered," says Chris Elliott, Selected Energy’s commercial project manager.