Comment by sgerenser

Sounds like it didn’t go so well: In 2020, the system started showing signs of deterioration resulting in significant maintenance issues. System components, knowledge, and technical expertise for repairs were becoming increasingly challenging to find. In response to system failures, the Drake Landing Solar Company added redundancies to the system to be sure that homes in the community were receiving heat… In 2024, a decommissioning process for the Drake Landing Solar Community began, where the majority of the 52 homes were converted to natural gas-fired furnaces.

Nowadays, solar thermal collectors are completely obsolete except in very niche applications. Solar PV is so cheap that it’s literally cheaper (not to mention much less maintenance) to wire a bunch of PV panels to a resistance hot water heater than it is to directly heat the water with thermal collectors!