Ritter Group wins Intersolar Award for Best Practice Solar Project

Ritter Group and Vanir Energy have been jointly awarded the inaugural Intersolar Award for Best Practice Solar Project at the Intersolar North America conference on 11 July. The companies received the award - given for the first time in the trade show’s history - for their joint work on a large-scale solar thermal system.

Mike DiPaolo, CEO of Ritter Group USA, and Oliver Kreis, Senior Engineer for Ritter Group USA.

The solar thermal project was built for the William G White, Jr YMCA in North Carolina. The system produces energy for hot water, the heating of the facility and the pool.

Ritter says the target temperatures of 50 to 110°C as required in the area of industrial process heat can be achieved even at low irradiation values of 400 W/m², making it reliable, fast and efficient.

The solar thermal system consists of 210 Ritter Group CPC (compound parabolic concentrator) 45 collectors with a gross area of almost 1000 m².

The award-winning solar thermal system.

Markus Elsaesser, Chairperson of Intersolar, said, “This year’s Intersolar Award winners in the new solar project category are great examples of trends we are seeing in solar projects. These installations directly benefit the community with dramatic energy cost savings, educational opportunities and new jobs. They also play a key role in contributing to the amount of renewable energy on the grid, and we will continue to recognise those projects that move the industry forward.”

Ritter Group CEO Jürgen Korff was very pleased with the award. “We are very excited about the positive development in the American market, which is very important to us. Especially in the field of industrial process heating, there are still enormous saving potentials possible by using large-scale solar thermal systems.”