Creative Energies Blog

Things were starting to cool off here in Idaho by mid-September, so what better to do than drive to Baja and roast in the late-summer sun?  NOLS Mexico has an off-grid facility in Coyote Bay with a battery-based solar system that powers multiple buildings and a water pump.  Toby and Curtis went down last April to upgrade the photovoltaics on the roof and pull off an older array in preparation for the roof being replaced.  With the new roof installed, Toby needed to head down again to put that array back up and double the size of the battery bank; I volunteered to assist him and become familiar with the system.

We rendezvoused at the office in Lander.  When I arrived Toby was cramming his itty-bitty Honda Civic with spools of wire, hardware, tools, conduit, luggage, etcetra.  Somehow we both fit in as well, with the ability to lay the passenger seat back!  The sun was dropping towards the western horizon as we drove out of Lander.  42 bleary-eyed hours later we pulled off the highway into the NOLS Mexico compound, and parked in the shade.
The new batteries were delivered using a local delivery service from the border.  The photo below was the delivery service that brought the batteries (2500 pounds!) 10hr down the bumpy road. Not sure how it made it?

Stepping out of the air-conditioning at noon in Coyote Bay was a bit like sticking your head under the heat lamp at a pizzeria.  I could feel my brain shut down to half-capacity out of self-protection, and it didn’t come fully back online until we crossed the border back into Wyoming.  Despite the crushing heat, Toby went right to work.  After we unloaded the car into the garage that houses the battery bank and inverters, he gave me a quick tour of the facility and then we opened up the Outback panel and started re-configuring the wiring to work with an added array and more batteries.

The following two days continued in the same vein.  Up on the roof shortly after sunrise until the sun on the brand-new galvanized metal roof was too hot to bear.  Sweating through the sunny hours down in the inverter garage.  Back on the roof after the sun went behind the horizon, and a brief swim in the bay at dusk.  We put up a pretty good-looking array on the new roof, including 12 ancient panels that came from the original system and produced about 600 watts.  The batteries (2500 pounds of them) were delivered by a friendly Mexican man who had driven them 10 hours down the very bumpy highway from Ensenada in the back of his tiny 2-wheel drive pickup.  Pretty impressive.  We parked them next to the original bank and wired it all up into one big system.  In the end, NOLS Mexico now has 8 KW of solar with about 3000 amp hours of battery capacity.

Though it was hard to believe, we stuffed even more into the Honda for the return trip, including 4 solar modules that had been recalled.  Pulling out of Coyote Bay at 5pm seemed a little ridiculous, but it was actually nice to drive through the night without any traffic.  We limped into San Diego at 6am with a dying front passenger-side wheel bearing and checked into a motel for a few hours’ rest.  After having the bearing replaced on a Sunday morning, we hit the highway again and finished up the trip back to Lander.

7 days to drive Lander to Baja, upgrade a system, and drive Baja to Lander.  Not bad.

Earlier this spring Toby and I headed down to Mulege Mexico to do some work on the NOLS Mexico off grid solar power system. As the school continues to grow so has their energy loads. Seeing as the roof that the solar panels were mounted to was being replaced it seemed like a good time to make some updates.

In all we added two inverters, two charge controllers, 20 solar panels, connected the new battery bank and a new reconditioned generator courtesy of the NOLS bus. When we left we had more than doubled their production, allowing the batteries to be at a higher state of charge at the end of the day.

I was personally shocked to see the power production jump ten to fifteen percent just after cleaning all the existing panels. Being a bit of a self-proclaimed clean freak, I can tell you it was the most satisfaction I have ever experienced on the job! The system is approximately a six kW system. NOLS Mexico uses power in their daily operations for water pumping, fans, lights, internet and computers. During the day they are able to produce more than enough energy for daytime loads, the excess energy gets stored in their battery bank, and is used throughout the night. all the folks that work at the branch were very nice, and our time spent their was a refreshing change of pace from daily life in Lander. It turns out that its true what they say, that all work and no play makes jack a dull boy. In some down time we were able to do a little sailing……thanks to Alex for literally showing me the ropes! My natural sailing ability is a telltale sign that Ill be back at some point for some more fun, sun and good food.