Here’s what we learned (technically) at the school today!

This is a mostly technical post (fair warning).

Electricity: The grid runs off of hydroelectric (green energy), which is scarce in the summer. As a result, the electricity is rationed and powers industry during the day. At night, it powers homes and schools. This means that Symbiosis does not have grid power at all during the school day (8 am to 2 pm) in the summer, only at night for 4-5 hours when school is no longer in session (*need to confirm when power usually goes out, and when it comes back on). When the grid is out, the school runs off a 5 kW diesel generator, which they usually run for 4 hours per day (*confirm). The grid power is usually out from 6 to 11 every day.

Water: The school uses water from the grid, which is pumped to four 500 L holding tanks on the second floor of the school. They are used when the power goes out, because when the power goes out the city pumps shut off and there is no water (*confirm). Drinking water is filtered from ground water (*confirm) using clay and parchment filters.

Generator: The 5 kW generator uses approximate 2 liters of diesel per hour. It is on for around 3-4 hours per day in the summer. Diesel costs 40 rs ($0.90) per liter, which means the school spends around $7 per day on diesel energy. The nearest diesel station is 4 km away, and the school sometimes needs to pay drivers to pick up diesel for them. Assuming that the summer is 3 months long (60 days), and that the generator is not used at all the rest of year, the school pays around $400 on diesel fuel alone. The generator is offline for around 4 days every year for scheduled maintenance. This costs around $50 per year (*confirm).

Loads: The greatest load on the system is during the summer, when several fans run in each room. At this time, the school uses around 4 kW, pulling off of the generator. No lights run during the day, but the school uses four computers, with plans to put in a computer lab with 15 computers. The primary loads are the fans, which each use 80-100 watts (48 to 56 inches; 75 watts for exhaust fans). When running on the generator, the school turns off approximately half of their fans (each room has between two and four fans). The school also has one television set. A 500 watt inverter is used to charge 400 Wh (12V 180 mps) batteries for the computers.

Peak Load: In summer, the peak load for the system is around 5kW (in winter the fans are not used, but the lights are, and the loads are only around 2-3 kW). However, this is only using around half of the fans in the school. According to the electrician, the school, if it had reliable electricity, would use around 7.5 kW to power all of its fans. This, in addition to the computers that the school plans to put in, could bump the potential peak load to closer to 10 kW in summer.

Conditions: At the school, especially during the summer, the conditions are hot and dusty. This must be taken into consideration for the solar panels. We may want to look into cooling systems and automated cleaning systems.

Hardware: The breaker box is located on the first floor below the stairwell. I think the main switch is rated at 32 Amps, but I’m not sure what the BUS rating is.