Week 1 of work was recently completed.
The area where the solar thermal plant will be installed is levelled off and trenches are dug for the water pipes and electrical cables.
The trenches for the dissipation network is are 1m deep, 1.2m wide and 24m in length. Into this trench, uninsulated plastic water pipes (25mm diameter) are placed. The pipes are uninsulated so that unused heat warms the surrounding layer of sand to store the heat that can be used later
Additional trenches are dug that will connect the Solar Thermal equipment to the building where the animal feed is prepared. These trenches are 0.6 m deep, 0.6 m wide and 24 m in length. These trenches contain cold water and electrical supplies. Another trench will contain insulated pipes bringing the hot water supply back to the farm buildings.
When all the pipes were installed, the trenches were backfilled with sand and a layer of gravel at the top.
There will be no works carried on-site during week 2, to let the trenches settle/compact. In week 3 the concrete pad will be poured, on which the solar thermal plant will be installed.
