What Solar Equipment to Power Disaster Recovery?

MailtoDelete asks: "I work with a team that is involved with disaster recovery efforts after natural disasters, like Katrina. We have satellite based equipment that allows us to bring data connections up in devastated areas to help bring the infrastructure back online to serve the public. I have looked at the main networking equipment and determined that the power draw is usually low (about 50 watts) and was curious about the possibility of using a small solar setup to power the equipment rather than running a 8-10kw generator to do the same work (after all, fuel may be scarce). Can anyone suggest a good site or book that I can look into that would help me learn more about what equipment would best serve my purpose? There is a small business in town that does this sort of work, and they have suggested a 550 watt array with the controllers, etc for about $5100. Does this sound reasonable?"

Comments

What if it's cloudy?

[JoshJ]

You'll need some sort of long-term energy storage if you want to use solar power, as solar power doesn't function in a cloudy situation. The OP mentioned Katrina- if you're in a hurricane and need disaster recovery stuff, there's usually still a general rainy period (though not hurricane-strength) after the brunt of the hurricane hits, as well as the fact that it may just plain be cloudy. To be quite frank, I'm not sure why you think "solar power" in conjunction with disaster recovery- you want something that will function under almost any condition, not function under "good" conditions and have to rely on a backup power source when the conditions are bad.

Re:What if it's cloudy?

[toddbu]

I have an EU1000i and they're fantastic units. Took mine to the races last year and powered the trailer for >24 hours on just a couple of gallons of gas. Honda also makes larger units, up to the EM7000is, which still consumes very little fuel (~ .25gph @ 1/4 load) given its power output rating.

Try a combination

[Colin Smith]

Yachts use solar and wind power to charge their batteries, it's a combination which works. Take a look at vertical axis wind turbines as well as photovoltaics. They can be cheap and run at low wind speeds.

Many Things To Consider...

[Boricle]

I don't really have any answers, just more questions - more detail about your response situations would really be needed to get into more specifics (and I'm not in this area this anyway).

Reading other posts here, I agree that the Marine angle may provide a good avenue for further investigation. Another option is to look at organisations in the 3rd world and see what they use. Another poster made a good point in contacting local HAM outfits to see what they use for emergency and mobile operation.

You could also try contacting other emergency services organisations in your region - there are sure to be some local ones, as well as groups like coast guards, chapters of Medicine Sans Frontiers, International Red Cross etc

. I think that some of the key points are likely to be:

1. What is your energy budget (peak, average and duration - ie, do you need 50w 24x7, or a 100w startup with 2x2hr per day)
2. What is your deployment method (air, road, sea, rail, bicycle, foot, quad, motorbike, etc)
3. How much space / weight do you have available?
4. What is your expected deployment length (days, weeks, months, years)
5. What is your resupply situation (air drops, cars, trucks, walking)
6. What other resources do you have available (oil, fuel, crops, wood, people, rivers, waterfalls, sun)
7. What is your exposure to the equipment availablility
8. How critical is the availability / reliability of the equipment (how many die if its only working 8 hours a day?)
9. How rugged does the equipment need to be?
10. Who will be using the equipment?
11. What will be the field maintenance requirements?

Think further afield - you can go from a very primitive portable situation, to more of a long term field camp arrangement, to a permament station?

Less technological solutions and allowing for very small packages could be having a good crank generator hooked up to either a person peddling or to a domesticated animal of some kind (like a horse on a flour grinder)?

Someone else has already mentioned using Diesel generators - you could use biodiesel, take from visiting trucks tanks, or grow your own (too much like hard work)?

Do you have the ability to use 3rd party equipment? Eg, police, military, other peoples vehicles to charge batteries. What will the people who use your equipment have available that you might use / exchange?

If the deployment ends up being long term, can you request an additional deployment of equipment (eg, have a crisis kit with a diesel / fuel generator for short term, with a good solar kit to follow up)?

If the deployment ends up being long term, can you reduce the operating load on the system (eg, have fixed operating windows) to reduce fuel usage / improve solar effectiveness

Can you mix multiple energy sources (eg, very small generator for short term / emergencies, small solar for ongoing and possibly a crank generator of some kind.

How low can you get your energy budget? Are there lower power alternatives you can get?

How independent do you need to be?

Good Luck!