Goetting & Associates was the sole consultant responsible for the design of the entire solar hot water system including the solar analysis, piping/pumping requirements, and electrical engineering design. The solar hot water system for the Northside Aquatic Center was designed for a Pool heating application. The array consists of 82 glazed flat plate solar collections which amounts to approximately 203.4 m2 (~2,189 sq ft) of gross solar collector area.

The solar panels reside on the roof above the locker rooms and office spaces which is approximately 4,200 sf. The array size has a total capacity of 445,000 BTUH. The system is configured as a drain back system which uses a thermal storage tank that holds 448 gallons storage to house the solar loop water when the system is shut down for freeze protection.

The solar hot and pool water for this system are decoupled from each other to prevent corrosion issues associated with the pool water on the solar panels. The system utilizes a stainless steel flat plat heat exchanger to transfer energy from the solar panels to the pool water. The estimated simple payback for the system is 19.1 years and 13.5 years to positive cash flow. The calculated renewable energy delivered on an annual basis is 640.7 million BTU’s (Maximum).