Brief
The publicly owned Westgate Leisure Centre in Chichester, UK, is a multi-function gym and health facility. It features several swimming pools, a large gym, sports hall, sauna, children’s play area and skate park. Due to its year-round hot water demand, the Chichester District Council, who owns the centre, opted for solar heat as a resilient and sustainable alternative to natural gas able to meet the centre’s heating needs.
Technology
This solar thermal installation consists of 420 vacuum tube collectors manufactured by Naked Energy and installed by OHM Energy and SolarUK on a rooftop area of 315m². It has a thermal capacity of 168 kWpth, making it the primary source of heating for the swimming pools of the leisure centre.
The solar heat technology works in combination with solar PV panels, two air source heat pumps, and a combined heat and power (CHP) unit on site. Thanks to the deployment of solar thermal, a total of 24.4 tonnes of carbon emissions are avoided every year.