It is 2022, and MEI still holds the reference for the largest ST roof top project in the world. In July 2011, MEI commissioned the world’s largest solar heating project, 25MWth, for Princess Noura University for Women (PNUW) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
MEI’s scope included the design, supply, installation, integration, operation and maintenance of the full solar solution. This solution included over 900,000 liters of hot water storage, piping, as well as integration with 70MW conventional boiler capacity.
The project consists of 36,160m² of large flat plate solar collectors on a 60,000m² rooftop generating 25MWth, with all ancillary equipment that supports the district heating needs of the university.
The solar system is designed to provide 100% of the domestic hot water load during summer and 25% of the heating load (space and DHW) during winter.
While the prevailing share of the solar thermal generated heat is directly fed into the district heating grid, during times of higher radiation and low demand of hot water, excess heat is stored. The fixed plate solution presents slower operation and maintenance costs while saving approximately 52 million liters of conventional fuel and 125 million kg CO²emission in the 25-year system life.
