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White Mountain Energy Project (WMEP)

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White Mountain Energy Project (WMEP)

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  1. The White Mountain Energy Project (WMEP) is a cooperative effort between the University of California White Mountain Research Station (WMRS) and the University of California, Irvine Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP). The goal is to provide high-quality, renewable energy to Barcroft Field Station, one of North America’s premier high-altitude research facilities. White Mountain Energy Project (WMEP) Left. APEP graduate students Jim Meacham and Jim Maclay install monitoring instruments on a transformer supplying power to the Barcroft Observatory (background). Above A sample of the monitoring output, showing what happens when building heaters are turned on (rise at center).

  2. WMRS Barcroft Field Station 12,500’ elevation – potentially open all year Medical and physiology research – human and animal subjects Atmospheric and environmental sciences Astronomy and astrophysics Ecology and behavior

  3. The problem: 9 miles of direct-buried transmission line between Crooked Creek and Barcroft – unreliable and low-quality power! Difficult and expensive to repair! WMRS owns above-ground transmission line between Silver Peak and Crooked Creek, also vulnerable to spikes and outages. Historic transmission line, still in operation (Southern California Edison)

  4. The Solution Phase 1 (2004) With support from UCOP, WMRS and APEP collaborated to designed an integrated energy solution for Barcroft. The first step was monitoring and modeling energy use with different technologies (figure). This information was used in a proposal to NSF’s Field Stations and Marine Lab (FSML) Program. Phase 2 (2005). WMRS is awarded $266,000 from NSF for “Bringing 21st Century Energy Technology to the Barcroft Field Station.” The proposal was ranked “excellent” and 1 of only 3 awarded > $250k out of 99 applications.

  5. future rooftop solar hydronic panels future wind turbine 2007 rooftop solar photovoltaic 2006 boiler control system Exhaust bypass monitoring and control system 2008 Grid-tie inverters Heat Exchanger hot water to station return Micro-turbine generator switch Trans- former switch Inverter bank (15KW) boilers (2) hot water heat storage AC supply to station Portable diesel generator liquid propane storage 6000 gallons electric battery bank 50 KWhr storage Propane vaporizer grid power in @ 12 KV 480 V to dome Transformer transformer 2008 WMEP current and future system, with installation timing.

  6. Progress 2006 Hydronic space heating system with 8 thermostat-controlled zones Zone 4 Zone 5 Zone 6 Large animal building circuit Main Pace Lab circuit with 6 zones Zone 3 Zone 1 Zone 4 Zone 2 95% efficient propane boilers, specially modified for high elevation. In winter this system consumes 10-15 gallons of propane per day to heat the buildings. Small animal building circuit In summer, 2006 we installed a high-efficiency propane heating system, along with 6000 gallons of propane storage. This is enough to last through 7-10 months of winter road closure, enabling full winter operations.

  7. Progress 2007 The principle goal in 2007 was to install and test the solar photovoltaic/inverter/battery system UC Irvine APEP team assembling solar arrays at WMRS Owens Valley Lab, May 2007. UCI graduate student Jim Maclay preparing EPDM surface for solar panel attachment.

  8. 2007 progress, continued Flexible solar panels cover the curved roof of the Pace Laboratory at Barcroft, generating approximately 50 kilowatt-hours per day of electricity on sunny days. The roof curvature ensures that summer and winter generation rates are similar. The APEP team installed the panels in June 2007, draping them across the roof.

  9. 2007 progress, continued Power from the solar panels is stored and converted to usable AC power by the inverter -battery system shown at left. The system runs off stored battery power for several hours, depending on the electrical load. In fall 2007 the system worked in tandem with a portable diesel generator, which ran 5-7 hours per day, saving well over 1000 gallons of diesel fuel and several thousand pounds of CO2. In 2008 the propane microturbine generator will replace the diesel unit, improving efficiency and lowering cost.

  10. 2008 and the future: In 2008 we plan to install the clean, super-efficient microturbine co-generation system. Successful implementation of the WMEP will greatly facilitate winter research, including astrophysics research. The dome shown below will house a new millimeter-wave telescope designed and built by the UC Santa Barbara cosmology group. WMEP provides safe, clean, renewable power with backup systems for winter safety. Future upgrades will focus on reducing propane consumption, increasing station capacity and utilizing WMRS for research in energy technology with APEP (WMEP Phase 3). For more information see the WMEP website at http://www.wmrs.edu/projects/BARenergy/default.htm.

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