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Honors College Residence Hall, Texas A&M University – Kingsville

Kingsville, Texas

Cinco Solar, Inc., an award-winning solar water heating designer and installer based near San Antonio, Texas, has completed a project at the newest residence hall at Texas A&M University – Kingsville. The new building, the Mesquite Village West Residence Hall, is scheduled to host its first occupants in the fall 2011 semester. The 98,000 square foot building will serve as home to the university’s new Honors College and its offices, and will provide housing for approximately 300 students.

The state-of-the-art solar water heating installation provides practical, meaningful results to its student residents and to the campus community. Commissioned in July of 2011, Cinco Solar’s system uses 66 evacuated tube solar thermal collectors to generate the domestic hot water required in the four-story facility and will drastically reduce the building’s energy expenses. The solar thermal collectors are installed in three separate arrays on the south-facing and west-facing roof tops.

Cinco Solar’s custom-designed system harvests energy from the sun and stores hot water in three large 1,000 gallon storage tanks that are heated throughout the solar day. The creative use of multiple storage tanks is a design innovation that allows the system to operate in a more efficient manner than if one larger tank were used. A sophisticated controls system was also designed and installed to maximize system performance.

At the time of commissioning, the 66-collector system at Texas A&M – Kingsville was one of the largest evacuated tube solar water heating systems in Texas. Cinco Solar has also commissioned a 176-collector array at the Army Residence Community (ARC) in San Antonio, TX, a 185-collector system at the University of Texas – Austin, and a 216-collector system at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center Annex. The system at the ARC was recognized in 2010 with the Bill Sinkin Solar Technology Award. This award is given as part of the City of San Antonio’s Green Building Awards as recognition for exemplary application of solar technology in the San Antonio area.

Facts about Cinco Solar’s system:

• 66 Kingspan Thermomax CS-40 evacuated tube solar thermal collectors installed
• One of the largest evacuated tube solar thermal systems in the State of Texas
• Estimated to produce as much as 80% of the domestic hot water for the four-story facility
• Services 300 residents in suite-style apartment units with an estimated annual production of over 960 million BTU’s of heat
• Heats three 1000 gallon domestic water storage tanks to nearly 190 degrees Fahrenheit
• Cinco Solar’s custom-built control system monitors solar system performance and provides convenient user interface through a touch-screen display monitor

Cinco Solar, Inc., was founded in 2007 and is based near San Antonio, Texas. Cinco Solar uses state-of-the-art evacuated tube technology to provide solar water heating solutions on a commercial, industrial, or institutional scale. Solar thermal systems are a natural fit to provide hot water for any facility or process that uses large amounts of hot water. Applications include, but are not limited to, domestic hot water, process heat, building heating and AC dehumidification and reheat. Properly sized, Cinco Solar’s solar thermal systems can typically eliminate 80% of the energy costs associated with producing hot water.

Texas A&M University – Kingsville opened its doors in 1925 and became a part of the Texas A&M system in 1989. Texas A&M – Kingsville proudly claims itself as “South Texas’ greatest university, offering more academic programs and degrees, providing better learning and living facilities, doing more research, awarding more scholarships and producing more successful graduates than any other college or university in the region.” The architect for the residence hall project was BOKA Powell and the general contractor was SpawGlass.

Inquiries:
Hugh Daschbach, National Sales Manager
T: 830-885-5110
hugh@cincosolar.com or info@cincosolar.com