Shu Kai informed that the design for the battery room was approved and the entire construction works would take about 3 weeks. This was great news! We had expected it to be much longer.
The excellent coordination from Shu Kai had made things very easy for us so far. With the battery room construction in progress, the whole project is right back on track. The Solar Lab would therefore be officially based at T-12.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Rooftop on T-12
The team made a trip back to Singapore Polytechnic today and met up with Mr. Chen Shu Kai for the first time. He was our new designated liaison since Mr. Battul had to leave for Japan for a work assignment and could not make it for the second recce trip.
Our objective for today was to gauge the feasibility of the Solar Lab at T-12 rooftop, and also to explore the possible options that we had for our battery room.
The site was revisited:
There was sufficient roof space for several systems to be installed, and little shading posed from the surroundings since it was one of the tallest buildings in that area.
As for the battery room, we provided Mr. Battul and Shu Kai a rough idea of how the room would be utilized. It was a simplistic model. There would be more components involved once the installation commences:
The most viable option was to utilize the space in front of the lift landing, this narrow corridor near the lift landing was considered:
The storeroom was also one of the few options we explored. This is the entrance to the storeroom, taken from the earlier site visit when Mr. Battul was around:
However, it was not a good choice since the room was far too small, already filled with stores, and would be accessed occasionally by contractors. We wouldn't have much space allocated for our equipment.
After our short meeting with Shu Kai, the dimensions and placement for the room were quickly proposed for the corridor. The estimated dimensions were 4m x 1.5m x 2m (height) :
One basic requirement for the battery room is good ventilation. Hence, louvers were also included in our proposed design.
Certain lead acid batteries (flooded type) release small quantities of flammable gases like oxygen and hydrogen when the charging current is too high, or when they are overcharged. As such, ventilation is important to prevent any build-up of flammable gases.
In addition, components like batteries, charge controllers and inverters undergo slight heating during the charging operation. As such, it is necessary to have louvers on both sides of the room to allow the air temperature within the room to remain cool during the day.
Our next step is to await the greenlight for the proposed battery room design.
Our objective for today was to gauge the feasibility of the Solar Lab at T-12 rooftop, and also to explore the possible options that we had for our battery room.
The site was revisited:
There was sufficient roof space for several systems to be installed, and little shading posed from the surroundings since it was one of the tallest buildings in that area.As for the battery room, we provided Mr. Battul and Shu Kai a rough idea of how the room would be utilized. It was a simplistic model. There would be more components involved once the installation commences:
The most viable option was to utilize the space in front of the lift landing, this narrow corridor near the lift landing was considered:
The storeroom was also one of the few options we explored. This is the entrance to the storeroom, taken from the earlier site visit when Mr. Battul was around:
However, it was not a good choice since the room was far too small, already filled with stores, and would be accessed occasionally by contractors. We wouldn't have much space allocated for our equipment.After our short meeting with Shu Kai, the dimensions and placement for the room were quickly proposed for the corridor. The estimated dimensions were 4m x 1.5m x 2m (height) :
One basic requirement for the battery room is good ventilation. Hence, louvers were also included in our proposed design.
Certain lead acid batteries (flooded type) release small quantities of flammable gases like oxygen and hydrogen when the charging current is too high, or when they are overcharged. As such, ventilation is important to prevent any build-up of flammable gases.
In addition, components like batteries, charge controllers and inverters undergo slight heating during the charging operation. As such, it is necessary to have louvers on both sides of the room to allow the air temperature within the room to remain cool during the day.
Our next step is to await the greenlight for the proposed battery room design.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Updates from SP
Updates from Mr Battul: There would be waterproofing and possibly other reconstruction works on the rooftop of T-22. As such, we might have to concentrate our efforts on T-12 instead. Not too good news considering that a battery room has to be specially constructed. This might mean additional delays for the team.
Another site visit would be scheduled for the T-12 rooftop and to discuss about the proposed battery room.
Another site visit would be scheduled for the T-12 rooftop and to discuss about the proposed battery room.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Initial Assessment
We visited Singapore Polytechnic to meet Mr Dilip Battul, principal lecturer and our designated point of contact for the Solar Lab. Our first step was to decide on a good location for our off-grid solar installation. Mr Battul had two possible site locations in mind: the rooftops of T-12 and T-22.
During the site visit, we would be considering these several points:
The existing 20kWp solar installation at T-22 was known as the Solar Energy Farm. There were about 300 PV panels, 6 solar trackers and also 2 wind turbines on that rooftop. Interestingly, this solar installation had been constructed since 1998 and must have been one of the first few major PV projects in Singapore!
The rows of PV arrays. They were built facing north, but its not much of an issue since we're sitting so near the equator:
The Siemens Solar 75-watt modules used:
Module specifications:
The battery room, and housing for all the peripheral equipment. We might also be able to use some space inside the room for our system:
T-22 seemed quite promising since there was still ample roof space for additional PV systems to be installed. The photo below was facing east, which meant that the sun's path throughout the day would run parallel to the building featured. This was ideal since the shading posed by the neighbouring building is minimised if we located the panels in the centre:
The second possible site was at T-12, the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. The total area was less than that of T-22 but more than enough for what we would need for the telecom testbed.
The building was one of the tallest in the vicinity, which was a good thing. This meant that shading from other buildings can be avoided. However, we still had to prevent shading from the taller sections of the rooftop, especially the high parapet walls surrounding the roof area.
Unfortunately, the problem with the T-12 roof was that it didnt have a sealed room where we could store our batteries and equipment. This made the site less appealing in terms of practicality.
Our first choice is the T-22 rooftop. The next step forward is now to get official clearance from the SP Estates Department for the solar project, which Mr Battul would be helping us with.
During the site visit, we would be considering these several points:
- Insolation and shading effects
- Indoor location for battery room
- Grounding and lightning protection
The existing 20kWp solar installation at T-22 was known as the Solar Energy Farm. There were about 300 PV panels, 6 solar trackers and also 2 wind turbines on that rooftop. Interestingly, this solar installation had been constructed since 1998 and must have been one of the first few major PV projects in Singapore!
The rows of PV arrays. They were built facing north, but its not much of an issue since we're sitting so near the equator:
The Siemens Solar 75-watt modules used:
Module specifications:
The battery room, and housing for all the peripheral equipment. We might also be able to use some space inside the room for our system:
T-22 seemed quite promising since there was still ample roof space for additional PV systems to be installed. The photo below was facing east, which meant that the sun's path throughout the day would run parallel to the building featured. This was ideal since the shading posed by the neighbouring building is minimised if we located the panels in the centre:
The second possible site was at T-12, the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. The total area was less than that of T-22 but more than enough for what we would need for the telecom testbed.
The building was one of the tallest in the vicinity, which was a good thing. This meant that shading from other buildings can be avoided. However, we still had to prevent shading from the taller sections of the rooftop, especially the high parapet walls surrounding the roof area.
Unfortunately, the problem with the T-12 roof was that it didnt have a sealed room where we could store our batteries and equipment. This made the site less appealing in terms of practicality.Our first choice is the T-22 rooftop. The next step forward is now to get official clearance from the SP Estates Department for the solar project, which Mr Battul would be helping us with.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Project Objectives
The following entries are progress updates for the installation of a renewable energy lab at Singapore Polytechnic. This initiative is an on-going collaboration between Conergy Singapore and the Polytechnic.
The objectives of this lab:
The objectives of this lab:
- To set up small off-grid systems for the testing of components
- To serve as a platform for demonstration purposes
- To involve students (especially from the Clean Energy Diploma course) in a more hands-on learning approach towards renewable energy systems
Background
1366 is the Earth's Solar Constant, which is the average amount of solar radiation in Watts per square meter just above the atmosphere. We've named our weblog after this Solar Constant, because it is symbolic of the consistent and huge potential in harnessing the Sun's energy.
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