IDC’s Inflatable Solar Panel Raises Temperature in Middle East

IDC's inflatable solar panel, the SolarStore, has been selected to help people in Jordan and Palestine benefit from warm domestic water.The SolarStore harnesses the sun’s natural energy to warm domestic water and can heat up to three full tanks of water per day at temperatures close to 80°C.

Forty SolarStores have been ordered by Grameen-Jameel; a social business set up to help poor Arab communities improve their standard of living, health and education. The SolarStores will enable these communities to benefit from warm water for the first time.

During use, the SolarStore is inflated to a size of nearly 2m2 for maximum solar absorption. It is made from a heavy-duty polymer with a robust structure which is anchored down by the weight of 30 litres of water. Each SolarStore works by allowing sunlight to pass through a clear outer layer to a black inner layer which holds the water. By a process of heat transfer, the water is heated up.The surrounding air between the clear and black layers then acts as insulation to help keep the heat in.

IDC’s Managing Director, Stephen Knowles, commented, “Jordan and Palestine are ideal locations for the SolarStore to take advantage of high levels of natural solar radiation, and we are delighted to support such an important social project to bring warm water to communities. As well as this, we are delivering a sustainable solution which saves nearly 0.2 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year in comparison to a conventional system.”