Operational Experience With a 4 Kilowatt Solar System

Operational Experience With a 4 Kilowatt Solar System at a Northern National Park Presented By: Ken Kelln, P. Eng

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Prince Albert National Park • The Narrows: A Well kept secret • 20 Km from Waskesiu • Pristine wilderness • Perfect location for clean, quiet Solar Energy

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Prince Albert National Park Map • One of Canada’s first national parks • The Narrows Campground is located 20 Km from the nearest power line

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • The park is enjoyed by thousands of visitors each year • Essential services such as, light, water and power are taken for granted

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Front view of the 6464 Watt Uni-Solar Shatterproof Panels, providing 4 k. W of power to the Narrows Campground

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Side view of the panel array • Each panel has a dimension of 30” x 54” • Each panel provides 4 Amps of current in sunny conditions

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Uni-Solar shatterproof panels were chosen due to the possibility of vandalism • The panels stand was designed to accommodate 80 panels

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • The electrical wiring meets the Canadian Electrical Code • Each junction box collects energy from 32 panels and delivers it to the electrical building

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • The panels are wired four in “series” • 16 of these groups of four are “paralleled” • This configuration provides 64 Amps at 48 Volts DC

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • An important criteria for any Solar system is an engineered stand that can withstand the test of time

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Rear view of the panel and electrical building • This building contains the batteries, inverters, back-up generator and charge control regulators

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Another view of the electrical building • A 500 lb propane tank fuels the back-up generator

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Combustion air for the generator is provided via the vent hoods • Both AC and DC lightning arrestors provide lightning protection for the Solar System

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Two Trace 4048 sine wave inverters provide 8 k. W of power at 240 Volt AC to the campsite • Two 40 Amp regulators prevent the batteries from overcharging

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Eight 6 Volt Surrett batteries are wired in series to provide 1025 Amp hours reserve at 48 Volts (20 hr. rate) • The batteries are housed in a vented battery enclosure

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • In the event of extended cloud coverage, a 7 k. W Onan generator provides back-up for the Solar system

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • The pump house is located approx. 1500 ft from the Solar array • It houses all of the pumps and water treatment facilities for the park

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • These original pumps were powered by a generator before the Solar array was implemented • These pumps were replaced with more efficient DC pumps

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Four surge tanks provide 120 gallons of surge capacity

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • A 4 gpm suction pump delivers well water to a 2000 gallon storage tank for the park water supply

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Three 24 Volt DC Solar pumps provide 12 gallons per minute from the 2000 gallon storage tank to the park

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Filtered water from the 4 gpm well is purified by the UV sterilizer before entering the 2000 gallon storage tank

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • • The pump house power is supplied from the electrical building, stepped up to 600 Volts and, stepped down to 120/240 Volt

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Four 6 Volt Trojan batteries, in a vented battery case, provide 24 Volts DC to the pumps

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Dusk to dawn lighting is provided at each washroom building

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • To minimize the lighting requirements, six skylights were provided in each of the three sets of washrooms

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • State of the art t 8 fluorescent lighting with 3 M specular reflectors provide the efficient lighting for the washrooms at night

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • The washroom lights are controlled by a infrared motion eye • This minimizes energy consumption in the washrooms

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Toilets were changed from pressure flushed units to standard flush units • Frugal Flushes were installed to minimize water usage and hence energy usage

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • A fish filleting shack has a motion controlled compact fluorescent light • This happy fisherman is filleting a whitefish at night

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Scott manages the marina • Scott is a very energy conscious individual • Again, t 8 fluorescent lighting is utilized • A reflector is absent

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Coke machines are not known for being energy efficient • The first unit installed consumed three times as much energy as the whole site • This unit only uses one -fifth the energy of the first unit

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Outside lighting is provided by this double tube, cold weather starting t 8 fluorescent at 6400 lumens

Kelln Consulting Ltd. • Our thanks to Barb Karcher, of Saskatoon who asked why not a Solar Powered park? Because of her the Narrows will remain a quiet, pristine wilderness for many years to come

Kelln Consulting Ltd. Consulting Engineers Lumsden, Sask.