P
pemaldini
Hi all
I am a poultry farmer based in Zambia. For reasons I won't bore you with now, we are being blessed with up to 9hrs/day of national grid load shedding, which we are told is only set to get worse (it may rise to 12hrs/day).
Currently my 2 rearing houses (55m x 11m) each comprise of the following electrics:
The flourescent lights feed directly off the 10amp mcb to their respective light switches, and the timer switch also connects to the 10amp mcb which then in turn handles the switching on of the internal house energy saver bulbs.
The above is replicated in each of the 2 houses. Both houses are 20m apart. House 1 has mains connected in to a DB on the outside of the house into a 32amp mcb. This is then fed into house 1 and house 2.
Given the large area of roof space (c. 720sqm each) and the abundance of sun in this part of the world and importing of solar equipment is duty free into Zambia I am interested to hear what solutions there might be for me to utilise solar to mitigate the power outages.
Would an invertor and battery system also work, charging up the batteries when there is power, and running off the batteries when there isn't.
What are the cost implications of the 2? Also bear in mind our length of day doesn't vary much, so day light hours are pretty much from 6am - 6pm. Any lighting would be needed outside of these hours, and potentially for 12hrs in a stretch.
Lastly, would you recommend running a separate standalone fridge/freezer (380ltr) for my vaccines using similar technology?
Any ideas on pricing such a system (without installation)?
Many thanks
Paolo
I am a poultry farmer based in Zambia. For reasons I won't bore you with now, we are being blessed with up to 9hrs/day of national grid load shedding, which we are told is only set to get worse (it may rise to 12hrs/day).
Currently my 2 rearing houses (55m x 11m) each comprise of the following electrics:
- 10amp MCB / house
- Digital timer switch / house
- 2 x 4' flourescent lights (external front & back) / house
- 36 x energy saver bulbs (Osram 18W) / house
The flourescent lights feed directly off the 10amp mcb to their respective light switches, and the timer switch also connects to the 10amp mcb which then in turn handles the switching on of the internal house energy saver bulbs.
The above is replicated in each of the 2 houses. Both houses are 20m apart. House 1 has mains connected in to a DB on the outside of the house into a 32amp mcb. This is then fed into house 1 and house 2.
Given the large area of roof space (c. 720sqm each) and the abundance of sun in this part of the world and importing of solar equipment is duty free into Zambia I am interested to hear what solutions there might be for me to utilise solar to mitigate the power outages.
Would an invertor and battery system also work, charging up the batteries when there is power, and running off the batteries when there isn't.
What are the cost implications of the 2? Also bear in mind our length of day doesn't vary much, so day light hours are pretty much from 6am - 6pm. Any lighting would be needed outside of these hours, and potentially for 12hrs in a stretch.
Lastly, would you recommend running a separate standalone fridge/freezer (380ltr) for my vaccines using similar technology?
Any ideas on pricing such a system (without installation)?
Many thanks
Paolo
