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The resort owner signed up for a free Alice Solar City energy survey, which identified a number of potential energy efficiency projects. Key amongst these recommendations was addressing hot water energy use.
The free-standing villas in the facility were originally fitted with small electric hot water systems shared amongst one or two villas. As a relatively inefficient technology, these units accounted for around 30% of the Resorts annual electricity consumption.
With a funding grant from Alice Solar City of $40,000 under our large business energy efficiency program, the electric systems were replaced with a total of 27 Quantum heat pump hot water systems of either 270 or 340 Litre capacity, with each serving three to four Villas.
The project is expected to reduce annual water heating energy consumption by over 60%, in addition to reducing the peak power demand potential of the facility by over 160kW.
The heat pump systems operate in a similar way to refrigerators and refrigerative airconditioners but in reverse, using electricity to extract heat from the air and pump it into the water storage tanks. In suitable conditions these systems can achieve a 4:1 ratio of energy out from energy in.