Harnessing the Sun: Battle Lake’s senior center finds a solar solution

CERTs are a trusted source of clean energy and energy efficiency knowledge in Minnesota. Its mission is to connect individuals and communities to the resources they need to identify and implement community-based clean energy projects. CERTs works with communities across the state and helps everyone from farmers and schools to utilities and tribal nations.  

Heidi Auel is a CERTs regional coordinator serving the central region of Minnesota, stretching from Wilkin County to Mille Lacs County. Auel said, “Gene contacted CERTs last spring about getting an energy audit for the space. The process started with connecting them to the Retiree Environmental Technical Assistance Program (ReTAP) for an audit and then expanding on energy efficiency.”  

MN ReTAP is a program that works with skilled, retired environmental professionals to provide energy audits of public facilities in Minnesota. Through this audit process, the ReTAP report recommended a hybrid heating and cooling system with a high-efficiency gas furnace and a heat pump.

The heat pump is an air conditioner that can run in reverse to provide heat. When the coolant flows one way, it draws heat out of the building and dumps it outside. When it flows in the opposite direction, coolant draws heat from the air outside and concentrates it inside the building. The heat pump installed at the Battle Lake Senior Center can provide reliable and efficient heating down to 30 degrees Fahrenheit.  According to the Minnesota Air Source Heat Pump Collaborative’s (MNASHPC) Cost of Heat comparison tool, a heat pump with a 30-degree switchover will reliably cover 68% of the average building’s heating demand in west central Minnesota.  

However, the subzero wind chill meant the natural gas furnace was necessary, but it wasn’t serving the heating demand alone. Mounted on the southern face of the building, a black glass panel with a textured pattern reflected the morning sunshine.  

The panel is a type of solar energy known as solar thermal. Most people are familiar with solar panels that produce electricity. These panels use layers of silicon and other conductive materials to harvest energy from the sun and convert it into electricity. Traditional solar PV panels can convert the sun’s energy from heat to electricity with around 22% efficiency. Solar thermal panels, on the other hand, absorb the heat from the sun and concentrate it on materials in the panel. These solar thermal panels can convert sunlight to heat energy with around 90% efficiency. The panel also can be ‘turned off’ when heat isn’t needed. 

Gwe Gasco, Director of Marketing and Sales with 8th Fire Solar, said, “We received funding to support the design of a training program to up-skill and re-skill workers to install solar thermal panel systems.”  

Receiving funds from CERTs and the Northwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership meant that 8th Fire Solar could perform two installations. The first installation was on Bam’idizowigamig Creator’s Place, a workforce development center in Pondsford, Minnesota. With help from students at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, they recorded the installation and made a video to share the training with a wider audience and with other Native nations. When they had leftover funding, the Battle Lake Senior Citizen Center was the perfect fit for an additional installation.

Gasco said, “Gene contacted me about a year ago to discuss solar thermal, and it didn’t work out at that time. But when we had extra funds, we all had heard about or knew about the Senior Center’s HVAC system challenges, and it made a lot of sense to install there.”

On the inside of the building opposite the panel, a small fan system pushes air from the building into the panel, where it is efficiently heated before being blown back into the building. A small display shows the temperature of the air going into the panel and the air flowing out — the temperature of the air flowing into the panel is 70 degrees. The temperature of the air coming out of the panel was 89 degrees. Then, the air was blown into the main community room, where a small group of seniors had gathered for the penny bingo game.