Rovers Go Green... it's on DROS now!

[SOD]

Ready for the Irish influx?

[drfcsteve]

Solar panels.

[graingrover]

An excellent initiative Rovers , though according to a BBC article of 2011 , it was Barnsley FC who pioneered this in football.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-12921843

[jonnydog]

Excellent decision to install these and surprised no other club has done it.

If we'd have had these installed by last winter, it would have meant out stadium was greener than our pitch

[albie]

Great news that the roof will be earning a living.

Lower leccy bills and some income as well, not too bad!

Have we rented out the roofspace to a solar company like the Dingles, with the company taking the profits, or have DRFC bought the panels themselves?

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Barnsley haven't got them the deal fell through I believe when the feed in rate changed.

[donny dave]

Put a few more in and it should help greatly with under soil heating costs.

[RobTheRover]

The lake is a huge heat source,  tbh. Even when the top of the lake is frozen and the air in the stadium is sub zero,  water from the bottom of the lake will be +4 or +5 degrees. The next time the pitch is relaid, maybe a small bore pipe snaking under the pitch and a pump to suck the water from the bottom of the lake and return it might be in order. It's surely enough to stop frost and would cost the few pounds an hour to run that the pump would use.

[albie]

That's a cracking idea, Rob.

Use the free heat beneath the water surface to offset the sub zero temperature at pitch level. No need to put in full undersoil though, which is expensive. What about a cover laid on top with the heat shield acting as a kind of electric blanket, either using warm water as a pre-heat or warm air pumped under the blanket tent?

Where there's a will etc...club could set up a competition among local companies to devise the most cost effective solution, rather than just buy off the shelf.

Once the solar is in the pump could run off that in daylight.

[Filo]

The lake is a huge heat source,  tbh. Even when the top of the lake is frozen and the air in the stadium is sub zero,  water from the bottom of the lake will be +4 or +5 degrees. The next time the pitch is relaid, maybe a small bore pipe snaking under the pitch and a pump to suck the water from the bottom of the lake and return it might be in order. It's surely enough to stop frost and would cost the few pounds an hour to run that the pump would use.

Water at the bottom of the lake will be a minimum of 4c, that's when water is at it's densest point, no matter what temps are above the ice water will be that temp at the bottom, possibly warmer on sunny cold days due to the greenhouse effect that the ice will create from the Sun

[RobTheRover]

That's a cracking idea, Rob.

Use the free heat beneath the water surface to offset the sub zero temperature at pitch level. No need to put in full undersoil though, which is expensive. What about a cover laid on top with the heat shield acting as a kind of electric blanket, either using warm water as a pre-heat or warm air pumped under the blanket tent?

Where there's a will etc...club could set up a competition among local companies to devise the most cost effective solution, rather than just buy off the shelf.

Once the solar is in the pump could run off that in daylight.

Thanks albie.  I do have one every now and again....

[DonnyBazR0ver]

The lake is a huge heat source,  tbh. Even when the top of the lake is frozen and the air in the stadium is sub zero,  water from the bottom of the lake will be +4 or +5 degrees. The next time the pitch is relaid, maybe a small bore pipe snaking under the pitch and a pump to suck the water from the bottom of the lake and return it might be in order. It's surely enough to stop frost and would cost the few pounds an hour to run that the pump would use.

Intriguing. That explains why the Carp head for deeper water in the winter months.

Also, what about a wind turbine similar to Reading? We could paint the blades in red and white, and it would look very pretty when spinning. Seriously, would it be beneficial or too costly to install? 

[River Don]

The lake is a huge heat source,  tbh. Even when the top of the lake is frozen and the air in the stadium is sub zero,  water from the bottom of the lake will be +4 or +5 degrees. The next time the pitch is relaid, maybe a small bore pipe snaking under the pitch and a pump to suck the water from the bottom of the lake and return it might be in order. It's surely enough to stop frost and would cost the few pounds an hour to run that the pump would use.

I asked me Dad about this idea, he's an engineer, he didn't think +4 or 5 degrees wouldn't be enough, I dunno, you may know better. He did say, if the undersoil pipe did freeze and split the resulting spill would cause a heck of a problem with the pitch. I suppose you could have a closed loop, rather than sucking water from the lake. Then the fluid could contain anti freeze to stop the risk of burst pipes.

I wonder now though, could they use the energy from the solar panels to give the temperature a boost?

[Nudga]

It would be more cost effective to have air source heat pumps to run the under soil heating, especially having the solar panels running the air source heat pumps.

[albie]

Rovers making the news in the trade press;
http://www.stadia-magazine.com/news.php?NewsID=53514

Good to see a local company involved. 400% over the lifetime looks a decent return!

[glosterred]

Not sure but this might work, if it can be upscaled to heat a football pitch

http://www.soloheatinginstallations.co.uk/ground_source_heat_pump.htm

COYR

[RobTheRover]

The problem with ground sourced heat pumps on a large scale (like a stadium) is that the heat doesn't "renew" in the ground fast enough over a longer period of time. You are effectively taking it out faster than it reheats, so the efficiency falls and continues to deplete.