Hi-tech Harvest of the Sun

Anyone who lives in a rural area usually has multiple plans to handle emergencies from extra food and goods to medical supplies and backup power. You never know when things might go "upside-down". 

We've always had a 5000 watt gas generator that would run about 6 hours on 5 gallons of fuel. It was a good solution for short-term power outages but not such a great idea if the power was out for days or longer. Plus it was noisy and smelly.

Like all other technologies, photovoltaic (solar) systems have been getting less expensive while significantly improving in output and simplicity. With the federal credits for installing a system expiring in 2016, we decided this year was the time to start.

We initially contacted several solar contractors only to be handed estimates that were grossly more power than we needed and grossly more expensive than our budget could handle. 

Finally we found a solar consultant who was perfect - Roger. Roger is a retired chemistry professor who spends his retirement years designing and helping regular people build their own PV solar system. In mid-July we started the process and two weeks ago we "flipped the switch" and started producing our own electricity. 

We did the majority of the slave labor and saved Roger's skills for the technical stuff. Actually Don did the majority of the hard work while I worked on the backup to the solar system - four cords of firewood. In the perfect juxtaposition, the brains of the solar system hang on the outside of the woodshed - the old and the new.

Rather than bore you will all the details I'll just share some photos. 

Layout of the solar panel array

Digging the holes

Setting the panel framework

Pouring concrete

Solar panels installed

Building the battery cellar

Battery cellar housing 8 - 6V batteries

Cabinet for power center

Power center with inverter

Woodshed with solar power center on right side

Our system, as configured, produces between 6 and 9 kilowatt hours per day. We designed it (ok, Roger designed it) so that we could double the output by just adding six more panels. Thus far we have the freezer and office running on 100% solar. Over the next few weeks we'll be adding another freezer and the media center - TV, sound system - plus some lights.

It still amazes me that you can produce your own electricity. And it's nice to know that when the power goes out again we'll have a little more comfort than in years past.

Watch for the next edition of Harvesting the Sun - Beekeeping

From Fleur Creek Farm

Harvesting the Sun

We spent a bit of time over the last winter thinking about ways to better utilize the natural resources of our place - clean air, exceptional water, lush grass and of course sun. Lots and lots of sun. More than 300 days of sun. So that became our focus. How could we better use the sunshine both directly and indirectly? 

The next few blogs will offer more detail on our two projects but here's a little something to peak your interest.

That's right - beehives! 2015 became the year we quit talking about having bees and actually got started. Don spent the winter building and painting the hive boxes in anticipation. We got two bee colonies from a master beekeeper in northern New Mexico in early June and collected a local, feral swarm in early July. All three hives are buzzzzzzzing!

Yup! Solar power. Compared to the bees, this project involves a bit more work from us and is still ongoing. By the end of this year we'll be producing enough power to handle all the office equipment and backup of key appliances when the conventional power is down. And if all goes well we'll double that by the end of next year. 

So stay tuned for lots more information as we complete these projects and plan new ones to harvest the sun. 

From Fleur Creek Farm