[RE-wrenches] Solar NGO's in Haiti??

[Lee Bristol]

Bill,

I think that you should seriously think of a 24V DC system with high
efficiency LED lights, DC fans, DC refrigerators, DC computers and Internet
access devices, and DC for the other appliances like TVs and radios.  Start
by minimizing the power requirements.  Air conditioning is a huge load and
not worth it from my point of view, open windows and fans work pretty
well.  It is Haiti after all.  You can get a battery charger if need be and
use the intermittent grid only in an emergency.

I put a small 500 watt AC system on a school in Carcasse, Haiti a couple of
years ago and recently got a report that it wasn't working.  Upon visiting,
I found a donation of 12 ten year old computers at an average of 100 watts
each so of course my system "wasn't working", the loads were too great.  I
subsequently realized that there are 20 watt DC computers, 9 watt LED
lights to replace 25 watt CFLs, etc and so my solar PV and battery
requirements can be substantially reduced by choosing the electrical
appliances appropriately.

I wholeheartedly agree with buying modules, charge controllers, and racking
locally and getting local electricians to help you out too.  We are trying
to stimulate a new PV industry in Haiti and need all the work we can get.

Note that the DC system is much simpler than AC and connecting to the
Haitian grid will be a problem.  Take advantage of Occam's Razor and the
KISS principle and consider DC.

Lee


On Wed, May 23, 2012 at 9:34 AM, William Dorsett <wmdorsett at sbcglobal.net>wrote:

> Daryl, I greatly appreciate your offer to help us think through putting a
> system together in Haiti. For some time we will be prioritizing the loads
> not so much for the orphanage but for the doc and his wife. They are like
> so
> many who buy into a project before processing that they are the ones
> needing
> to modify their lifestyles..one of their priorities at our last meeting was
> air conditioning. So it is going to take a reality check on equipment costs
> for them to come to grips with actually living there. Even then these
> people
> might have enough money to stick out as the Cadillac in a barrio. As we get
> closer to a list of indispensable loads (even at that you'll probably have
> a
> better idea of what can be bought in Haiti), then we'll know what size
> battery bank, inverter, etc and I would like to get back to you on the
> hardware and other design considerations that might be unique to Haiti.
>
> Bill Dorsett
> Sunwrights
> Manhattan, KS
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
> [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of
> penobscotsolar at midmaine.com
> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 5:23 PM
> To: RE-wrenches
> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Solar NGO's in Haiti??
>
> Hi Bill,
>   I worked in Haiti this last year for a couple of months with an NGO and
> installed a donated system. Customs took almost ten months to allow the
> solar panels to pass through. They sat in customs through two different
> trips down. There is much corruption and many scams. There is a company now
> manufacturing panels in Port Au Prince. I do not remember their name and
> Googling does not bring anything up.
>   The only batteries available (at least last year) that were sourced
> within the country were Trojan T-105's , very, very common and easy to
> purchase in PAP.
>   Why not use the charger built into the inverter to charge the batteries,
> even when used as a UPS system? There really isn't a need for an extraneous
> charger beyond that. You can source both Xantrex and OutBack inverters from
> dealers in PAP and Leogane, where I was working.
>
> Feel free to contact me off list if I can help,
>
> Daryl DeJoy
> NABCEP Certified PV installer
> Penobscot Solar Design
> 207 326-0779
>
>
>
>
> > A doctor in town has started an orphanage in Haiti and while it has
> > connection with government power for a few hours per day, it of course
> > is not reliable and is very expensive. We are still in the stage where
> > we are trying to figure how to shed as much load as possible. I have
> > no territoriality in this project and will help provide system design
> > and hardware at my cost, however apparently tariffs can be huge so we
> > may want to source as much as possible in country.  Can anyone tell me
> > which solar NGO's (SELF?) you'd recommend to tell us what hardware
> > (deep cycle
> > batteries) is available in country? And if it is a simple UPS system,
> > storing from the grid, what grid-connected battery chargers does
> > everyone recommend for a fairly large battery bank? Used to be Todd
> > chargers and I wondered if they've corrected problems or passed on to
> some
> other company.
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks for your suggestions.
> >
> >
> >
> > Bill Dorsett
> >
> > Sunwrights
> >
> > 1715 Leavenworth
> >
> > Manhattan, KS
> >
> > 785/539-1956 Home/Office
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Bill Dorsett
> >
> > Sunwrights
> >
> > 1715 Leavenworth
> >
> > Manhattan, KS
> >
> > 785/539-1956 Home/Office
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > List sponsored by Home Power magazine
> >
> > List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
> >
> > Options & settings:
> > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
> >
> > List-Archive:
> > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
> >
> > List rules & etiquette:
> > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
> >
> > Check out participant bios:
> > www.members.re-wrenches.org
> >
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Options & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List-Archive:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Options & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List-Archive:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
>


-- 
Lee Bristol
NABCEP Certified Solar Designer/Installer

Co-Founder & Commercial Channel Manager
Standard Solar, Inc.
1355 Piccard Drive, #300
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 944-5105
(240) 479-1510 (c)
www.standardsolar.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20120523/b09d00d4/attachment-0004.html>