General information Location: Centre for Sustainable Living, Toronto, Canada Sunshine hours (annual average): - Type of project: Commercial Type of application: BIPV Time for design process: Building: 4 months PV: 1 month Time for construction: Building: 6 months PV: 1 month Realization: 1999 [ Top ] Description The Living Machine is an engineered biological ecosystem that simulates a natural wetlands indoors. It is the waste treatment facility for the Kortright Centre for Conservation, a park established by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to provide visitors with the opportunity to observe and experience the various aspects of human involvement with the renewable natural resources of the area. About 140 000 visitors walk 15 kilometres of trails through meadow, marsh, forest and wetland ecosystems. It is the focus for many local school programs. In addition to the natural environment, the Centre also features numerous displays of renewable technologies including a renewable energy demonstration cottage, a “shingle” photovoltaic roof, small wind turbines, solar thermal systems and biomass plantations. The Living Machine is the most recent addition to these demonstration projects. In addition to being an education facility, the building also demonstrates the latest developments in water and energy conservation, resource recycling and alternative waste treatment. At the same time, it serves a vital practical purpose by biologically treating domestic sewage generated in Kortright’s main visitors building and recycling the final effluent back to the Centre’s water efficient toilets for reuse. The innovative process will ultimately reduce Kortright’s water consumption by eighty percent. The utility interactive photovoltaic power supply is one of several technologies showing the practical application of renewable energy. The original intent of the photovoltaic design team was to integrate the array in the form of a standing seam roof. However the architect was unfamiliar with this technology and not comfortable with its application to this building. The building proceeded without this feature, the compromise being to make allowances for a photovoltaic canopy. The myriad of donors and technologies made communication difficult. This is reflected in the final photovoltaic array design. Overall, the three-block design of the building results in partial shading of two of the four canopies in the morning by the east block. Also the two rows of canopies were spaced too close resulting in partial shading of the lower canopies at noon in the summer. The effect of the shading was minimized by the module wiring configuration within each canopy. [ Top ] System characteristics PV system power: 4,24 kW utility-interactive Type of building integration: Roof integration. The arrays are fastened to horizontal galvanized steel pipes attached to the building steel frame Type of cell technology: 240 & 50 watts (16 & 8) multi-crystal (EFG), Manufacturer: ASE Americas Inc. Inverter: central 5000 watts inverter, Manufacturer: Arise Technologies Corporation [ Top ] Project cost breakdown Design (estimate): CAD 5 000 (€ 3 000,00) Solar modules: CAD 21 100 (€ 15 000,00) Other electrical components: CAD 7,500 (€ 5 350,00) Electro installation (estimated): CAD 7 000 (€ 5 000,00) Mounting system: allocated to building Construction: allocated to building Miscellaneous: none Total: CAD 40 000 (€ 28 500) Costs per kW: approximately CAD 10,00 (€ 7,12) [€ 1 ~ CAD 1,405] [ Top ] Performance characteristics There was no funding allocated for extensive energy monitoring. The system has been checked from time to time and the system appears to meet power design requirements. There have been no failures over its three years of operation. Electricity generated: 119 kWh between 11 January 2000 and 29 January 2000, a cloudy period System availability: Estimated 99% Incidents or Outages: Estimated 4 Component: Inverter Cause: Operational error - the set points for the DC voltage operating window required tuning Repair: By manufacturer – exchanged power conditioners as part of testing program and adjusted set points Design recommendations: The photovoltaic installation was part of a research and development program. Funding should have been allocated for proper monitoring and system evaluation. From a reliability standpoint, this system has operated very well over the past two years. The overall energy output has been limited by some shading problems resulting from original design conflicts. [ Top ] Project team Client: Toronto Region Conservation Authority Project architects: Edward Russell and Associates Design: PV – Sol Source Engineering Engineers: Jain and Associates Contractor: Edward Russell and Associates Contractor PV: PV – Kortright staff PV manufacture: ASE Americas Inc. [ Top ]