Over one year ago, a customer approached Alpha Group member Argus Technologies inquiring about powering options for a series of microwave telecommunications sites in rural Mozambique. Because these systems were to be distributed across the country, and often located high on mountaintops, it was clear that solar power was the ideal solution.
The solar power systems collect solar energy during the day to power the loads and charge the batteries. At night, the loads are powered exclusively from the batteries. This charge/discharge cycle repeats each day; the battery bank is sufficiently large (approximately six days of runtime on fully charged batteries) to ensure that the loads are powered during cloudy periods.
Alpha Energy considered the remote locations, the solar resource available in the area, and made a special effort to standardize system components to reduce the total component count and simplify maintenance and troubleshooting, should problems arise. Alpha Energy and Argus worked with the customer's specifications and defined a solar power solution appropriate for the application.
The solar power systems' photovoltaic (PV) arrays range in size from 660 to 4950W. The battery charging controllers allow remote access via a RS-232 serial port, allowing the engineers to access system operating parameters such as PV current, battery voltage, and other status parameters. The controllers also provide programmable alarm contacts to alert maintenance crews if battery voltage drops too low. Thirteen systems were shipped in February 2006, and future orders are anticipated as networks expand in Mozambique.
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