Student housing project for a London university

A London university has partnered with South Park Heating and Adrem to install 135 VirtuHOT and 60 VirtuPVT tubes supplied by Naked Energy, at their West London campus.

Breakdown of project

Client
A London University

Sector
Education / Research 

Location
London, UK

Technology
VirtuHOT and VirtuPVT

Brief

Based in London in the UK, across their student accommodation, the University houses over 10,000 students for up to 12 months of the year, with 3,000 located in their West London campus.

The University needed to supply hot water for 3,000 students on its West London campus. With limited roof space on the city campus, they required a high energy density solution to also tackle their Scope 2 emissions and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2025. Improving student experience by enabling students to engage with renewable generation on site was also a high priority for the University.

Virtu Solution

The University partnered with Naked Energy to develop the system concept, which includes 135 VirtuHOT and 60 VirtuPVT solar collectors, manufactured by Naked Energy.

The 139 m2 system was designed and installed on sloped roofs by Convert Energy. With limited roof space on the city campus, they required a cost-effective, high energy density solution.

Phase 1

The first Virtu installation took place in 2019, with 60 VirtuHOT tubes. This provides zero-carbon hot water to student accommodation previously reliant on natural gas consumption, reducing associated their Scope 1 emissions.

Phase 2

Following the success of phase 1, in October 2021, the University installed a second, larger array of 75 VirtuHOT and 60 VirtuPVT tubes on another accommodation block, which provides both heat and power to the resident students.

Benefits

✓

Thermal output: 44,100 kWh/year
Electrical output: 3,487 kWh/year

✓

Capacity of 70.9 kWp thermal and 4.4 kWp electrical

✓

Carbon savings: 4,981 kg/year