Learn and Serve America with Renewable Energy	NetGainä Solar Systems

The Concept

The Context and the Need

The planet is experiencing a crisis of unprecedented proportions: There are increasing demands for resources of dwindling quality with increasing costs of extraction: we are consuming our "seed corn." A recent study on the "Hubbert Peak" predicts that our level of extracting oil resources from the earth will peak as early as 1999 and will drop 20% by the year 2010. This peak may be only 2 to 10 years away and little is being done to prepare for the crisis which this change is going to precipitate. The cost of photovoltaics is dropping dramatically as the size of the market increases. The difficulty has been that the capital cost of solar systems usually is far beyond the consumer's ability to pay in advance.

What Is a Solar School?

A solar school is a school using photovoltaics or another renewable energy source, for emergency standby or linked to a utility grid. An array of photovoltaic panels, wind generator, small hydroelectric unit or other devices are linked to a centralized facility with a "balance of system" unit which consists of electronics (charge controller and inverter), storage (batteries and/or flywheel), possibly an auxiliary power unit (Diesel or Stirling engine), and a metering system to validate financial instruments.

Schematic of Pilot Model

Example Wiring Diagram

Systems

SolarQuest® offers solar systems for sale to schools and the general public, including solar panels, inverters, power carts, wind generators, data instruments, etc.

updated 1999 April 6