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 20Km 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 20Km 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 Watt Uni-Solar Shatterproof Panels, providing 4 kW 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 500lb 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 kW 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 kW Onan generator provides back-up for the Solar system

Kelln Consulting Ltd. The pump house is located approx 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 t8 fluorescent lighting with 3M 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, t8 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 t8 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.