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On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 15:02:56 -0800, "RST Engineering"
wrote: After much thought and ponderance, I've come to the conclusion that to electrify the hangar using Pacific Gas & Electricity (PG&E -- Pigs, Goats, and Elephants) isn't clever. By the time you get them to hang a meter ($5k), trench from the power pole to the end of the row of hangars, conduit romex to 35 hangars at a cost somewhere around $50k ($1500 per hangar), and then pay the monthly electric bill, you could buy a hell of a wind/solar system and perch it on the (flat) hangar roof. Before I flail about gathering data, has anybody on these ngs actually installed a design whereby a hefty solar panel charges a hefty battery to run a hefty inverter? It doesn't have to be absolutely "clean" sinewave power as all we are running are fluorescent shop lights (about 400 watts worth), every now and again a small compressor, a small drill press, a small grinder, but none of these last few at the same time. My hit on it is that a 2 kW inverter would be more than enough to handle the AC side of it, and a bank of 12 volt truck batteries would work for the DC side of it, but there are the problems of parallelling large batteries, how to combine the outputs of solar cells and wind generators, and a reasonable source for all this stuff. There are issues around protecting the solar cells from hail, which we do get from time to time, battery acidic gases inside a hangar where a very expensive lump of aluminum is sitting for months on end, sizing the solar cell and wind generators, and other considerations along these lines. Comments appreciated. Jim Jim, As one who lives "off-the-grid" in eastern Maine, (and for similar reasons, I might add -- excess costs to run power here), perhaps I can be of some assistance. We use both wind and solar to power our home, and also have a backup generator. The problems of coordinating all these things has been solved with readily available technology. As has all of the other issues you mentioned. In order to make an intelligent decision and design an economical system, your very first step has to be to estimate your electricity usage as accurately as possible. In addition to adding up your daily consumption in kWh or amp-hours, you also have to consider peak loads. And, especially since you may be using a compressor, you will also have to consider the startup surge -- with a compressor this may be five to ten times the running amps. That information should be decipherable from the motor face plate. The next step is to assess your solar resource, and there is information on the web available for that. Being at an airport, my advice is to forget about wind. You need to have a wind turbine on a tower high enough to get out of turbulent air, in order to make it worthwhile. The required height would encroach upon the FAA mandated clear zones. I'd be happy to help if you like. Ron (EPM) (N5843Q, Mooney M20E) (CP, ASEL, ASES, IA) |
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