Objective To demonstrate the performance and reliability of three small (307 Wp), stand-alone pv systems as power supplies for the measurement of ground water level at 3 sites near Hamburg. A further aim was to determine whether data transfer via radio is a reliable possibility.Since the commissioning the pv power supply operated without any failure.However it was impossible to get reliable data transmission via radio; the distances between the central unit and the measurement sites were 200 m, 5 km and 20 km.In 1987 the whole data logger system was sent to the manufacturer for improvements, without success.PV has proven to be a reliable, economical and ecological energy source for this type of application.The data logger and the transmittance of the data by radio would have to be revised completely.The average annual energy production of one system is 173 kWh. Energy cost is calculated to be 11.5 Ecu/kWh (3.5 Ecu/kWh for a replication).In this project PV arrays are used to power three meters for measuring the ground water level in wells in the Haseldorfer Marsch area near Hamburg. The Hamburg Waterworks authority operate about 150 ground water level meters in this area which monitor variations in the ground water level, so that pumping at the wells can be regulated in accordance with the availability of ground water.Formerly the meters were read and the data collected manually during a fortnightly inspection trip. This method is costly and may overlook short term variations in the water level.The pv powered meters in this project have radio transceivers which, when activated by a signal from a central station every 30 minutes, transmit water level data to the central station for automatic decoding, collection and storage. Each of the three groundwater level meters is powered by a 307 Wp array consisting of 16 AEG modules of type PQ10/20 of polycrystalline silicon.The modules are connected through a charge controller (type BCR 12 Sh300) to a 12V, 100 Ah battery, which allows operation on 10 consecutive days with no sun. The charge controller prevents overcharging and excessive discharging of the battery.Savings are made by removing the need for visits by maintenance staff to manually read the meters.Monitoring has been carried out at each of the three water level meters in accordance with the JRC Ispra monitoring guidelines. Programme(s) ENG-ENALT 2C - Programme (EEC) of demonstration projects relating to the exploitation of alternative energy sources and to energy saving and the substitution of hydrocarbons, 1983-1985 Topic(s) 6.1 - PHOTOVOLTAIC Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme DEM - Demonstration contracts Coordinator AEG AG EU contribution No data Address Steinhoeft 9 22880 Wedel Germany See on map Total cost No data
