The company won the title Installer of the Year at the prestigious British Renewable Energy Association Awards ceremony at London’s Café Royal.

Riomay won the Award for installing what is believed to be the world’s largest solar thermal heating system at the prestigious development at Highbury, the former home of Arsenal Football Club. The massive array of 240 Ecotube evacuated tube solar panels covers 720 square metres was commissioned in 2008 and will provide hot water to 711 residential apartments.

The company was also short-listed for the Innovator award while it’s Chairman, Tony Book, was short-listed for Champion of the Year. Riomay was the only company to receive three nominations in categories which pitted them against national and international companies.

“We were delighted to win such national recognition across a range of awards against very stiff competition,” says Tony Book. “Riomay has been specialising in solar technology for over thirty years and our reputation for quality and innovation has established us as leaders in the market. It is good to have that fact recognised by such an august body as the REA,” he says.

Riomay’s Ecotube is one of the most efficient solar thermal panels available worldwide. The system radically reduces the amount of “parasitic” energy lost by most evacuated tube solar heating systems. The means the system needs smaller pumps, resulting in fewer drops in pressure through the system.

Independent laboratory tests prove that the Ecotube produces more than 750kWh/m2 per year in direct heat mode and 850kWh/m2 in pre-heat mode – over 40% more than the industry standard. The panel – which can go flat on a roof, horizontal on a flank wall or at an angle – has won widespread approval from architects and mechanical engineers for its versatility.

The REA award comes as Riomay prepares to launch a new, domestic solar panel onto the market this Autumn. The Ecotube 65 system will replicate the high performance of the company’s larger commercial panels and make it’s award winning technology more easily available to local property owners through plumbers and heating engineers.