The North Carolina Solar Center has been involved with dozens of technical research projects throughout the state. Included are photovoltaic (PV) projects, solar thermal projects, and building science projects.

Photovoltaic Projects

Topsail High School EV Charging Station – Hampstead, NC (2002)

• Designed by the Solar Center
• Installed by the Solar Center and Topsail High School students
• Includes 2.6-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 4-kW utility interactive inverter, and 10.5-kWh battery backup
• Interconnected with the CP&L utility grid
• Paid for by grants from the Virginia Alliance for Solar Electricity (VASE) and the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
• Used to charge school’s electric vehicles built for the EV Challenge competition (www.evchallenge.org)

Northern Vance High School EV Charging Station – Henderson, NC (2001)

• Designed by the Solar Center
• Installed by the Solar Center and Northern Vance High School students
• Includes 2.6-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 4-kW utility interactive inverter, and 10.5-kWh battery backup
• Interconnected with the CP&L utility grid
• Paid for by grants from the Virginia Alliance for Solar Electricity (VASE) and the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
• Used to charge school’s electric vehicles built for the EV Challenge competition

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Career Center EV Charging Station – Winston-Salem, NC (2001)

• Designed by the Solar Center
• Installed by the Solar Center and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Career Center students
• Includes 2.6-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 4-kW utility interactive inverter, and 10.5-kWh battery backup
• Interconnected with the Duke Power utility grid
• Paid for by grants from the Virginia Alliance for Solar Electricity (VASE) and the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
• Used to charge school’s electric vehicles built for the EV Challenge competition

ABB office building, Centennial Campus, NCSU – Raleigh, NC (2001)

• Designed by the Solar Center
• Installed by Honey Electric & Solar
• Includes 3.2-kW (Nameplate) PV array

Center for Environmental Farming Systems, Cherry Farm – Goldsboro, NC (2001)

• Designed by the Solar Center
• Installed by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and the Solar Center
• Includes 720-Watt (Nameplate) PV array, 600-Watt stand-alone inverter, and 9.6-kWh battery backup
• This PV Array powers an electric fly zapper. Dr. Wes Watson of NCSU’s Department of Entomology conducts research on controlling the population of horn flies on dairy and beef cattle at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems at Cherry farm.

Hargraves Community Center – Chapel Hill, NC (2001)

• Designed and installed by Solar Guys, with assistance from the Solar Center
• Includes 4.25-kW (Nameplate) PV array, two 2.5-kW utility interactive inverters
• Interconnected with Duke Power utility grid
• Paid for by City of Chapel Hill and a grant from Virginia Alliance for Solar Electricity

Catawba College – Salisbury, NC (2001)

• Designed by Design Engineering, Inc.
• Includes 5.2-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 5.5-kW utility interactive inverter, and 14.4-kWh battery backup
• Interconnected with Catawba College utility grid

Multi-family public housing facility, N.C. A&T University and Greensboro Public
Housing Authority – Greensboro, NC (2001)

• Designed and installed by NC A&T University and the Solar Center
• 2.6-kW (Nameplate) PV array and 4-kW utility interactive inverter
• Interconnected with Duke Power grid

Intek Manufacturing – Aberdeen, NC (1997)

• Designed and installed by Ascension Technologies
• Includes 9-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 40 daylighting fixtures, and 2,000 square feet of solar wall for warehouse makeup air heating

Applebee's restaurant –Salisbury, NC (1997)

• Design by Innovative Design, Inc.
• Installed by Innovative Design, Inc., and the Solar Center
• Includes 400-square-foot building-integrated PV thermal array, 1.6-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 10-kW thermal water heating system, 4-kW utility interactive inverter, and 20-kWh battery backup
• System’s performance was tested for six months at the Solar Center’s research facility before installation, and performance was monitored for one year after installation
• Paid for by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s PVBONUS program

North Johnston High School EV Charging Station – Johnston County, NC (1997)

• Designed by the Solar Center
• Installed by the Solar Center and North Johnston High School students
• Includes 1.8-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 4-kW, 24-Volt utility interactive inverter, and 14.4-kWh battery backup

Northampton High School EV Charging Station – Conway, NC (1997)

• Designed and installed by the Solar Center
• Includes 1.8-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 4-kW (24-Volt) utility interactive inverter operating in stand-alone mode, and 14.4-kWh battery storage

Smokey Mountain High School EV Charging Station – Sylva, NC (1997)

• Designed and installed by the Solar Center
• Includes 1.8-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 4-kW utility interactive inverter, and 14.4-kWh battery backup

NCSU EV Charging Station – Raleigh, NC (1997)

• Designed and installed by the Solar Center
• Includes 1.8-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 4-kW utility interactive inverter, and 5.76-kWh battery backup
• Used for charging the NCSU Transportation Department’s three electric vehicles

CCB – Bessemer City, NC (1996)

• Designed by Innovative Design
• Installed by Innovative Design and the Solar Center
• Includes 240-square-foot building-integrated PV thermal array, 2.7-kW (Nameplate) PV array, 9-kW thermal collection used for winter ventilation air preheating, 4-kW utility interactive inverter, and 20-kWh battery backup
• Paid for by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s PVBONUS program
• Monitored, evaluated, and maintained by the Solar Center

Outward Bound Cedar Rock Base Camp – Brevard, NC (1994)

• Designed and installed by the Solar Center
• Includes 800-W (Nameplate) PV array, 2.6-kW stand-alone inverter with utility backup, 10.5-kWh battery storage
• Used to power dorm cabins in Pisgah Forest

NC Power PV Awning – Roanoke Rapids, NC (1993)

• Designed and installed by the Solar Center
• Includes 9-kW (Nameplate) PV array and 3-kW utility interactive inverters
• Interconnected with the North Carolina Power grid
• Monitored by the Solar Center for one year
• Demonstrates coincidence of PV output period and utility system demand

Solar Thermal Projects

Intek Solar Wall – Aberdeen, NC (2002)

The Solar Center conducts performance testing on the solar wall located at the Intek Facility in Aberdeen, NC. Although solar walls have been studied primarily for use in cold climates, this project seeks to determine whether they would be appropriate for North Carolina.

NC Maritime Museum’s Cape Lookout Studies Program Field Station
- Cape Lookout, NC (2002)

The Solar Center installed a solar water heating system at the NC Maritime Museum's Cape Lookout field station. The field station (formerly a U.S. Coast Guard station) is about a mile south of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. The installation was part of a two-day spring-cleaning and facility improvement field trip. Cape Lookout Studies Program volunteers assisted Solar Center staff in the installation of the solar system. The system features a drain-down solar water heating system, a 63-square-foot flat plate collector, an 80-gallon solar storage tank, and a 50-gallon propane auxiliary tank. To learn more about the NC Maritime Museum's Cape Lookout Studies Program, visit their web-site at www.capelookoutstudies.org.

Brady Building Power Roof – Raleigh, NC (2001)

With the assistance of the Solar Center, this 8,000-square-foot warehouse now features a building-integrated concentrating solar thermal roof system, the energy source for a 25-ton, solar-fired, double-effect absorption chiller. The warehouse also incorporates daylighting techniques and a rainwater catchment.

Power Roof II – Duke Solar, Raleigh, NC (1999)

Engineering design and installation assistance was provided by the Solar Center, which also monitors and tests a solar, high-temperature, compound parabolic, evacuated tube, industrial roof system’s cleaning protocol and mechanics.

Power Roof I – Duke Solar, Raleigh, NC (1997)

Engineering design and installation assistance was provided by the Solar Center, which also monitors a solar high-temperature, compound parabolic, evacuated tube, industrial roof system.

Building Science Projects

Crawl Space Study – Eastern NC (2001)

This research project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, was conducted in conjunction with the Advanced Energy Corporation (AEC) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The research goal was to investigate the thermal, moisture and indoor air quality performance characteristics of sealed versus ventilated crawlspaces for residential buildings in the U.S. South. The commercial goal is to inspire the home construction industry to significantly improve the as-built thermal, moisture and indoor air quality performance of both ventilated and sealed crawlspace systems. There were two major components of the crawl space study in 2001—a field study and a characterization study.

The primary objective for the field study was to provide practical, “real world” information targeted at code officials, builders and homeowners. The pilot study involved 12 new homes that had been divided into relevant groups in order to compare the traditional wall vented design (the control group) with dry construction technology crawl spaces (the experiment group). The performance evaluation was based on thermal and moisture air monitoring, wood moisture content readings, and air leakage characteristics determined from pressure testing.

The characterization study documented the thermal, moisture and indoor air quality performance of existing ventilated crawlspaces. The study surveyed 10 homes in North Carolina, ranging from two to 10 years old, with ventilated crawlspaces. Existing conditions characterized included moisture problem history, soil type, site drainage, materials permeance, duct leakage, pressure relationship, insulation, and air born and surface molds. The primary role of the Solar Center was to manage field work and data collection for both components of the study. For more information on the crawl space project, go to www.crawlspaces.org.

Mobile Classroom Technology Development

The Solar Center will construct a modular classroom in 2003 to investigate opportunities for improving energy efficiency and renewable energy in mobile classrooms. The modular classroom will serve as a subject for diagnostic tests, experiments and various other technical evaluations. The Solar Center plans to incorporate and test daylighting techniques, solar-assisted ground-coupled heat pumps, passive solar design, envelope tightening, transpired solar air collectors, photovoltaics, and other renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.