Well, dammit, I wrote a whole post last night, clicked on “publish”, and it was gone. Gotta remember to click on “save draft” first. So here I go all over again…

Ooh, lots of good pix today… This has been a focused four days, and yesterday was a very good day. We got the Summit PV system into full operation yesterday. This was Operations Manager (and my “boss”) Jeremiah’s top priority. It’s down to a punch list of half a dozen items – waiting for a few wayward parts and the like. I also got a nearly identical system up and running the preceding day at the observatory, but that one is still lacking its PV array, so it remains shut off for now.

These power systems were of my design, and much of the normal process of designing to a planned and calculated load profile was missing. Both systems are providing the electrical energy for indeterminate future research activities, so there’s no way to predict how much energy will be required and when. So these are sort of good generic systems, intended to provide clean power for lights, computers and test equipment.

Today we substantially finished the PV system at the Summit Hut.

For the solar nerds among us, each system has (or soon will have) 1,800 watts of PV modules, charging a 48V bank of around ten usable kilowatt-hours of maintenance-free sealed batteries, with a 3,000 watt Outback inverter providing clean sine-wave AC. Both systems are nearly identical, in order to make the learning curve easier for future maintenance, and use Outback components to match the existing hardware at the main Barcroft facility. An “at-a-glance” meter shows the batteries’ state of charge in simple percentage, for those who’ll use the facility but have never lived with a finite amount of available energy.

Here’s the power system with its covers open.

The road to the summit, shown here from maybe 13,000′, is a major bad-ass jeep trail up a steep slope. The top of the Summit Hut can just be seen in this photo – click on it for a larger view.

The road is very rough in spots, and the ride to the top has become a joyous trip.

The PV array on the roof is set to a very shallow angle, more like a grid-tied system in the city than is typical for a remote off grid system, but for good reasons. The facility is only accessible in the summer months, after the snow melts, other than by Sno-cat or maybe helicopter (yeah, right…) During winter it will only power wireless internet communications and weather data. Also, I understand that winds of 190 miles per hour have been recorded at the summit, and the low profile increases the likelihood that the PV modules will stay put.

Even with a haze of wildfire smoke, the Fish Lake Valley, east of the summit, is spectacular.

And this is looking north toward Montgomery Peak, near the Nevada border.

Jeremiah and I on the Summit Hut roof with a working array.

The 60-year-old concrete and stone building formerly had only generator power, if one was brought up. The two-room hut had been little used in recent years and was in some decay. The PV system represents in some respects a rebirth, offering the clean, quiet and reliable energy that will make the little facility much more habitable for the scientists and academics who’ll use it.

Here’s the interior of the lab, with the new PV system nestled on the north wall.

The observatory system is nearly identical. Until 2012 it had utility power, and the funny round building is full of inefficient energy-hogging electronics, heaters, motors and older computers. We had to first clear a space for the new power equipment. I’m less certain of the adequacy of this system. I built into each system a way to charge the batteries from a generator, just in case.

This is the similar system installed in the observatory.

The observatory system closeup

With the impending completion of these systems, the work I was hired to do is approaching completion and winding down. I’m likely to be up here for a few more weeks at most, and that will include trips off the mountain as before. Beginning today and over the next week I’ll be working with Noley Baker and his assistants to bring new and more powerful internet radios into operation at each of the facilities.

I have remained healthy and strong the whole time up here, which had been a concern of mine. I feel the elevation whenever I exert myself, such as climbing on my mountain bike, and I have learned to rise slowly to a stand after being crouched over until the lightheaded rush passes. But that’s about it; sleep comes easily and I’m no more tired at day’s end than at half the elevation in New Mexico.