Solar Cooling in the Desert

The desert of Arizona with its high solar irradiation requires a stable technology to cool down the heads of more than 4000 hard studying pupils. 

The district school administration urgently needed to reinvest in their cooling system. The requirements were defined to move away from an electrical compression chiller to a more durable solution – and to become a “greener” school. The collectors (4935 m2) have been located on the roof of the school and as shading elements for the parking area. SOLID’s absorption chillers are considered as “pre-cooling” for base load and only peaks are supported by the existing compression chillers. The effect of solar cooling applied for base load, the overall energy costs decreased and the lifetime of compression chillers increased.