Deerfield Solar Tour Site 2: Solar Charging Shed
Installed 2019 – 4kW
Off grid – Battery storage and EV charging station
This is essentially a portable charging station. It can be loaded onto a trailer and moved to any location. There are 8 panels, 4 on the side (facing south) and 6 more on the roof.
The aluminum on the ground is there to reflect light up to the side of the shed to produce more power.
The power produced by the panels is stored in an array of batteries inside the shed.
This shed is currently used to charge several electric vehicles (EV) owned by the CSF team. Using solar to charge EVs doubles the clean energy impact of the EV. When the batteries store power, EVs can be charged at any time, day or night, as long as there is power available in the batteries.
An inverter is used to change the power produced by the array (DC) to power that can be used by outlets (AC). The charge controller monitors the status of the batteries and cuts off the flow of power to the batteries when they are at capacity or if they are being drained too low, to avoid damage to the batteries.
Tour Information
ASES Solar Tour: Always the first full weekend of October.
Self-directed tour: Any time. Pick up map at Couillard Solar Foundation offices (Mon-Fri) or download below.