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Bill Young conducted a program on photovoltaics for
tourist industry representatives in Haiti. |
In 1981, the state of Florida created the Florida Association for
Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and the Americas (FAVACA)
to help Caribbean countries by providing multi-faceted consulting
and technical expertise in such areas as agriculture, public
health, environmental sustainability, disaster management, trade,
elder care and youth issues. This was part of the state’s close
association with many of the Caribbean countries and a way to direct
volunteer resources to aid those island nations.
Several years ago, Bill Young, a senior research engineer with FSEC,
was asked by FAVACA to provide educational and consulting services
related to the use of solar energy in disasters. This contact
has resulted in trips to several island countries, most recently to
Haiti, one of the poorest counties in the Caribbean.
He explained that “During a visit in 2003, we first discussed
the possibility of offering an educational workshop to teach resort
owners about energy efficiency, conservation measures and solar energy. The
Association Touristique d’Haiti, an organization comprised of
resorts, hotels, restaurants and transportation services that represents
and promotes the tourist industry in Haiti, asked FAVACA to support
such a mission. We’ve been working with them and as a result,
a one-day workshop was conducted last month for members of the resort
association who were interested in learning about state of the art
solar technology and design criteria in order to evaluate feasibility
for implementation into their operations.”
Bill presented sessions on photovoltaics and former FSEC staff member
Mark Thornbloom discussed solar thermal energy for 17 workshop attendees. All
sessions were translated into French during the program. To determine
actual energy needs and viability, site visits were made and data
collected on resources, energy consumption and present energy efficiency
measures.
Young pointed out that “Haitian resorts obtain most of their
electrical power from diesel generators at their facilities. The
country’s climate does support the potential use of solar radiation. Education
in solar energy would provide the knowledge and understanding needed
for change by government, business and the general public. Implementation
of energy efficiency technologies and conservation measures would
help reduce energy loads at resorts. This would ultimately result
in reduced costs and allow smaller solar systems to be used.”
One of the major problems limiting economic development in Haiti
is that utility-supplied electricity is unreliable, of poor quality
and expensive. Much of the country does not have utility power,
and those areas that do only have power for several hours a day. Utility
distribution lines are not properly maintained and residential connections
to the grid contribute to poor power quality. No fossil fuels
are found within Haitian borders so propane, diesel and gasoline are
imported and expensive. Gasoline is about $5.40 a gallon and
electricity is about 32 cents a kWh, making commerce very difficult.
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Philippe Villedrouin, right, gave Bill
Young a tour of the PV and wind-powered Ranch Le Montcel
Resort in Haiti. |
In addition to putting on a number of presentations, he visited several
PV sites in the country. “On our second day there,” he
said, “we started with an interesting bus trip through Port-au-Prince,
a city of over 500,000 people, which has only one working traffic
light. We traveled along winding, bumpy roads through the mountains
to the top of Montcel Mountain at 4500 feet to Ranch Le Montcel Resort,
an eco-resort 60 miles south of the capital city. Philippe Villedrouin,
resort director, believes this is the only ecological resort in Haiti.
The 40-bedroom hotel features Swiss chalet-style architecture and
a beautiful view of the valley from the restaurant’s balcony.
Local farmers grow almost all of the food used at the resort and a
small, man-made pond collects rainwater for processing into drinking
water. The resort is powered by PV, wind and a diesel generator, of
which PV and wind provide 90 percent of the resort’s energy
needs with the diesel generator used for festivals and other large
social events. Three arrays totaling 60 modules at 6,600 watts provide
power. Near the resort entrance, a 10-module array powers the water
system and utility building. Another 10-module array is housed on
the lobby and conference building, with the largest array on the restaurant,
which has 5 freezers for food preservation. Two 600-watt wind generators
are integrated with the PV on the utility building and the lobby.”
Another hotel visited on the trip was the Norwich Mission House where
Bill met with Matt Marek, Director. The mission’s sponsorship
comes from the Dioceses of Norwich in Connecticut. They support two
orphanages, a health program and two schools in the area of Port-au-Prince.
The ten bedroom building also houses offices, volunteer training classrooms,
volunteer quarters and an art shop. Missionaries and church volunteers
for the Dioceses stay at the hotel when working in Haiti. Haitian
students, parents and other relatives bring art objects to be sold
in the mission shop as a means of income. Bill explained that the
Norwich Mission House “has installed four AstroPower 110-watt
PV modules along with a 3600-watt inverter and 630 amp-hour battery
pack in a storage room. The PV system provides power when utility
power is out, which is about half the day and partly into the night,
as the Haitian utility company supplies power on the average of 4
to 6 hours a day. They have a gasoline generator, but choose not to
use it unless necessary because of the high cost of fuel. They use
utility power when it is available and to charge their inverter’s
battery pack. When the utility power goes out, they use the energy
stored in the batteries to get several more hours of electricity.”
“It’s clear from our work in Haiti that the problem is quite
serious in terms of disaster preparedness and recovery, so the use of
alternative energy systems are essential. Our workshop showed
a number of hotel, restaurant and government officials how solar energy
can give them emergency power as well as on-going reliable power systems. I
look forward to working more with them in the future.”