This building will also be the Boundary Copper Mining Interpretive Centre. The Trans Canada Trail is immediately behind it, leading to Greenwood's Lotzkar Park, slag pile and smokestack were the remains of a Victorian Era Industrial Ruin. A copper smelter that ran from 1900-1918.
To find a good use for the building members of several volunteer groups in
Greenwood formed the Heritage Development Organization, with a member of
Council representing the City.
The idea was developed to establish an interpretation center, featuring mining,
copper smelting and the role of electric power all in the close proximity of
Greenwood.
At this time the Mayor, Arno Hennig learned of the availability of the Alternative
Energy Grant. This was in October of 2000. The proposal was made to the
Heritage Development Organization ( HDO), to use this facility , that processed
electricity generated by large volumes of water, stored behind dams, could now be
the place to produce electricity from an endless supply provided free by the sun.
The proposal was fully endorsed by the members of the HDO.
The City of Greenwood made the application to the Ministry of Community
Development, Cooperatives and Volunteers in February of the year 2001.
In March the grant was approved for the $ 42,000 with $ 30,000 coming from
the Ministry and $ 12,000 from other sources and in kind.
The completion date was set as on or before the 30th day of September 2002.
This would have given us more than ample time to research, interview experts in
the field of wind and solar energy. Manufacturers of solar panels and equipment.
We needed the advise of an architect for proper planing for the location of the
new electrical room. Removal of old unused piping , concrete obstructions and
obsolete wiring and conductors.
It was on recommendation by the Administrator and the Mayor that Soltek Solar
Engineering of Victoria, B.C. be the Designer and Supplier of all the equipment
including a small wind generator to study the available wind patterns in our area and
its impact on charging the four large storage batteries.
The former substation is located at the south end of the municipality and prone to
vandalism. To erect the solar panels just above ground level would have been too
tempting a target for rock and bottle throwing persons. Therefore the highest part of
the roof just over forty feet above ground level and set back ten feet from the edge
of the roof proved to be the most logical but not the easiest location to install the
eight panels measuring five feet high and 16 feet wide. It required a crane type hoist
with a 50 foot lift to raise the two pre assembled sections into place and onto
a wooden structure constructed from pressure treated lumber.
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The wind generator was attached to a 2 inch diameter steel pipe at the corner of the
building secured to the brick wall with clamps and bolts.
Seventeen meters each of #8 four conductors Tech Cable was used to connect the
solar panels and the wind generator to the control system in the electrical control room.
A building permit was obtained from the Regional District to put the structure on
the roof and for alterations within the building. A strong dolly on six heavy duty
coasters was build to carry the tremendous weight of the four large batteries.
The City engaged a certified electrician to install outlets, lights a sub panel relocate
outlets and connect the solar wind generators to the control system.
This is what could be called a “ smart “ system which is going to be controlled and
monitored by an already programmed computer.
At the writing of the above, we are waiting for permission from Utili Corp Networks,
former West Kootenay Power, to connect to the “grid” to sell back any surplus power
not needed for the building.
Future additions may see the installation of solar toilets, solar thermal hot water tank,
and heat pump heat the building .
Our alternative energy system is an operational fully functional power generating station, employing the latest state of the art technologies in tapping into the greatest un exhaustible resource within our part of the universe.
Soltek engineering pre assembled the powerboard before shipping with most of the electronic components in place.
In order to secure this 4x4 foot panel to the brick wall, we had to drill a number of holes into the bricks for anchors and bolt a ¾ inch plywood backing to the wall.
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With the solar panels we received a metal frame kit, unto which the panels, four of each, were assembled into two arrays . Each array was wired into a 4x6 volts configuration in series to produce 24 volts D.C.
Once on the roof , the two units were connected within a special junction box in parallel to double the amperage .
The interconnecting conductors are # 10/2 Teck cables. The main conductors for both the solar panels and the wind generator are # 8/4 Teck cables 15 meters each secured to the outside wall and entering through a hole into the electrical room and connected to the power board.
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The batteries: Each of the four batteries measure 19”Lx6.5”Wx22.5”H and weighing 336 lbs each. The voltage being 6 volts each, they had to be wired in series to provide 24 volts . We constructed a dolly on wheels, strong enough to carry the load of 1,344 lbs.
The battery bank is housed in an enclosure measuring 4x4 feet and almost eight feet high with ventilation to the outside, to prevent build up of fumes. A monitor was attached to the batteries to keep track of the temperature within the batteries. A trace 500 meter provides easy instant information of solar and wind voltages charging the batteries, amperage and ampere hours plus percentage of power charged up.
All this D.C. Power stored is inverted to produce 120 Volt A.C. which is fed into a sub panel connected by conventional means to lights ,outlets and switches.
The original plan was to have second inverter and its components installed on to the power board to provide 240 volts A.C. This would have doubled the capacity of power and doubled the amount to feed back into the grid for credit. With 240 volts available, this City owned building would be totally independent of the grid using energy from the cleanest source the sun and wind.
A computer, monitor and printer already programmed will complete the installation. This will be used to give information instantly to the visiting public for free. Websides and links are…. Regularly updated.
More pictures of the project is in the Photo Album link below.