Taylor
Wilderness Research Station is located in the
middle of the Frank
Church River of No Return Wilderness. The station is designed for
environmental study and observation. There are no roads,
power
lines, or pipes running to the facility from outside locations.
It is completely isolated from civilization. New
expansions
for research station have been built on the site increasing the power
demands.
Our group, Small Scale Sustainable Power, is currently
developing
ideas to create renewable energy for the staff at Taylor Wilderness
Research Station.
The Taylor Wilderness Research Station power system expansion consists
of five focal areas:
hydroelectric generation, solar generation, battery storage, backup
generation, and data acquisition (DAQ). Our expansion plans
include replacing the current alternator based DC hydro generator with
a more efficient permanent magnet model. In addition, a 4 kW peak
output solar array with 71 kWh worth of battery storage and support
infrastructure, including a 30 kW liquid propane backup generator, will
help us reach our estimated daily load requirement of 150 kWh.
To
monitor all subsystems for the purposes of maintenance and research, an
overarching DAQ system will record current, voltage, and complex power
flow throughout the system.
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