Help with solar panels

Off-topic Chatter
1

Hi all, I need help for a project to assist the charity that I do volunteer work for.

The charity is called IT Schools Africa and we shipped and installed 10,000 desktop and laptops in schools in Africa last year.

We would dearly like to support these computers with back-up solar panel charged power supplies as mains electricity supply is unreliable and diesel generators are too expensive.

Please let me know of any systems that may fill this need.

I would be most grateful for any advice to solve this problem.

2

Something common for schools I see being done in my area is where they take their existing parking lot's, build a structure over them and install solar panels tilted toward the arc of the sun, averaged per season of course.

Hope that helps a little.

3

Google solar Africa for many many hits, or look at this BBC program on solar for Africa. Africa's new breed of solar energy entrepreneurs - BBC News

What looks best to me is to work with existing groups providing solar power on an individual level with a pay per month plan. Otherwise you risk screwing up a working enterprise with donations.

4

How many kilowatts system are talking about here? Solar panels + converters alone are not expensive, but storing the energy is. I know a couple things about small off-grid system to support a family but for something this magnitude I really have no clue.

5

Solar panels are cheap now if you shop around, inverters are also not expensive, but batteries are fickle. To be honest i suggest hunting down some local experts for advice on suppliers and equipment

6

Sorry I have little advice, just questions.

Like, “any systems that may fill this need”… What (specific) need? I know you need to ask broadly at first, but “support these computers with back-up solar panel charged power supplies” could mean almost anything.

Solar doesn’t seem to have evolved yet to power larger-scope projects (not even if you have shiploads of government money to throw at it); but at a personal/family level, options abound. Are you looking to power individual laptops, single buildings, or entire villages?

I have enough hobby solar ‘stuff’ to keep a couple of flashlights running all night, assuming the sun shines brightly most of the day — which I could scale up to laptop level fairly easily. Two of my closest friends, both engineers, are trying two different approaches to powering their homes by sunbeams. One is trying the least-impact method with just enough capacity to get his home through the night (including HVAC, cooking, on-demand hot water). The other wants to make his home into a “castle on the hill” Civil-Defense shelter with excess power for him and his neighbors as well, all fully recharged during an average day. ALL of us face the fact that “generation” isn’t nearly as hard as “storage”. Tip: you and your donees should probably start now, accumulating as many storage cells as you can safely store.

Like, “solve this problem”? What problem? I’m not picking on you, but are you being careful not to create an X-Y Problem over the solar idea you “dearly like”? A recycled UPS or three in each classroom could keep the desktops, servers and infrastructure gear running through an occasional ‘hiccup’ on the Grid. As long as you have batteries, that ‘hiccup’ could last for days. Laptops already run on batteries, so it’s just a matter of keeping them charged.

Specifically, are your donees already using such old-school tricks as Methane Gas, small-scale hydro, windmill power, etc.?

Or is the actual problem finding ways to deploy Solar?

PS: THANK YOU for your time and efforts you invest to make your brothers’ lives a little better!

Useful Information:
Micro Hydro Power – Pros and Cons

India’s low-tech energy success. World Watch, Nov-Dec 1995

Solar and Wind Hybrid System for Rural Electrification

Existing and Recommended Renewable Energy Conversion Technologies for Electricity Generation in Nepal

7

Dimbo reminds me of a good point, laptops use a fair bit of juice, cell phones and tablets use a lot less, the lower the loads the less generation/storage you need. Also LED bulbs are a nice complementary use for battery power

8

I think, this will work -

Inverter with battery bank. batteries are charge from Solar panels.

requirement depending on how many computers/laptop used.

9

Anything with much value is going to have a high risk of theft, smaller is better.

10

I have once Heard that some buy mainstream solar panels and dremel and epoxy them to have only 12V(series to parallel) and then use cheap 12V solarchargers and used 12v batteries(from ups and similiar).
It’s the cheapest way and you can harvest a lot of energy with just small money.