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Three Rivers Calf Farm in Parma, ID raises 10,000 heifer calves for the dairy industry.  The calves start out being bottle fed with pasteurized hospital milk from dairies and topped off with dry milk mixed with hot water.  The calves are fed twice daily with each calf consuming 2 gallons of 100 degree milk each day.  The operations center is also heated with radiant floor heating.   The calf farm maintains the cleanliness of the operations by washing equipment with 170 degree water.

The solar thermal farm consists of 80 – 30 tube panels generating 4,000 gallons of 170 degree water each day.  This equates to 4 million BTU’s of energy created from the suns radiation.

This project was  fortunate to receive a USDA REAP grant for 25% of the cost of the project.  The project included 2- 1500 gallon insulated tanks for hot water storage, 2 1.5 million BTU/hr boilers, radiant floor heating and the solar thermal farm.

The project is operating as designed and the farm has seen significant reduction in the consumption of propane.

 

One of the biggest challenges for for most dairy farmers in the Magic Valley is to chill the fresh milk in the holding tank as quickly and as gently as possible. Doing so maximizes the milk-fat percent in the saleable milk.  This is hopefully accomplished with an energy-efficient chiller which then captures the heat offset using free heaters to pre-heat the water for process clean-up.  The next opportunity is heating the rest of the process water which needs to be 180 degrees for clean-ups.

Renewable Energy NorthWest, LLC (RENW) of Star, Idaho and Progressive Dairy Service (PDS) of Jerome, Idaho recently partnered together to tackle these issues in a collaborative method at the Dairy Farm of William Bokma in Twin Falls, Idaho..  PDS is in the process of installing new Mueller chillers and compressors at the Bokma Dairy  and are expected to save the operation $2,500 per year in energy costs over the current system.  The big gain on the new chilling system comes in the improvement in the milk-fat percentage in the milk. The project expects to improve the milk-fat percentage by 15%.   A new free heater is also being installed to capture the heat that is generated in the chilling process.

Renewable Energy NorthWest just completed their portion of this project by installing 20 – 30 tube evacuated panels. The new panels are  expected to generate 1,000 gallons of 180 degree water on a daily basis.  During the commissioning period and after some modifications on the current water flow process, the milk tank wash down hit 158 degrees. The usual tank washes were 140 degrees.  The 158 degree wash was accomplished with free energy from the sun.  Each solar thermal panel offsets approximately three tons of carbon each year of production.   The expected life of the system is twenty years or offsetting 1,200 tons of carbon.

This Renewable Energy Solution project is funded in part by the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).  The expected payback on the project including all the equipment discussed in this article – is less than six months after grants and incentives.   The College of Southern Idaho (CSI) in Twin Falls, Idaho  was represented in the project with three students and two  faculty members from the Renewable Energy Program.  The students and faculty members were able to see, assist and learn that this program provides the best return value on investment for available renewable energy products.  One of the students commented,  “It’s good to get some hands-on experience with this product.”

 

The chillers were just installed and initially we are seeing great results.  Prior to the project the milk would enter the holding tanks at 84 degrees.   The milk is now entering at 37 degrees.  We are all excited to see the improvement gains for this project. 

In May we installed 8 Lava solar thermal units in a car wash in Idaho. The Lava units have a 50 gallon insulated non pressurized tank to store the energy collected during the day. The energy is then consumed heating the hot water for the car wash.

The energy can also be used in the winter to assist heating the radiant floor system for the car wash bays.

We also installed a Hi-bred water storage system in the mechanical room with a 95% efficient boiler.  The project funding was  assisted with the help of a USDA REAP Grant of 25% and a US Treasury Grant of 30%.

The owner of the  car wash is very happy with the savings and performance of the system.

The car wash is able to turn the natural gas off in March and then turn the gas back on in October due to the increased energy heating the radiant floors.

– See more at: https://www.renewableenergynwllc.com/blog/solar-water-heating-car-wash#sthash.aYcQGrmz.dpuf

Renewable Energy NW, LLC completed another “affordable solar solution” for a great family in New Plymouth ID.  The project included an energy efficient American Standard air to air heat pump, a variable speed blower, an efficient media air filter system, a humidifier, an on-demand electric hot water heater and a two panel solar thermal system for heating the hot water and assisting on comfort heating.

The complete system is saving the customers more than 50% on their utility costs for their home.  The air quality is significantly better with a consistent humidity and clean filtered air.

This install is a great example of a holistic renewable energy solution that will provide affordable, efficient and clean comfort for you home for years and years.