Industrial
Beco has specialised in the industrial
application of PV for nearly ten years. In almost
all of these applications power has had to be supplied
in a remote area. If the cost of laying a mains
cable to the site is high and the power requirement
is modest then PV is very often the most economical
solution. From experience we find that with loads
of less than 500mA @ 12Vdc the cost of a photovoltaic
power supply in the UK is usually less than that
of laying a mains cable for only 100m.
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The photograph
on the left is a graphic example of what
we mean. Our customer, Wessex Water, found
it considerably cheaper to install a stand-alone
PV power supply for their flow monitoring
equipment than to get a mains supply installed,
even though the nearest transformer was
only yards away!
The photograph below
left, shows a gas-main regulator control
cubicle. British Gas Transco now uses our
custom designed PV systems to power the
logger/profiler which sets the pattern
of daily pressure within the main to further
reduce the chance of leakage. Over 350
systems have been supplied to date without
a single reported failure. |
Above are further examples of projects
we have been involved in or managed where PV
has, yet again, provided an economical & reliable
solution to the problem of remote area electrical
supplies.
Above middle and right are photographs showing
PV lighting systems custom built for the Heart
of Wales Railway Line following successful trials
of a prototype ordered by their Travellers Association.
The system incorporates a PIR to detect passengers
entering the platform as well as trains arriving.
A total of fifteen systems are in service at
unmanned halts.
Solarex photovoltaic modules and systems custom
designed and built by BecoSolar have enabled
the platforms to be illuminated at night for
the first time in their history.
The two photographs above show a PV system comprising
a pair of pole-mounted Solarex MSX-60 modules
charging a 300Ah battery bank via a Beco charge
controller. The system powers a sophisticated "weigh-in-motion" sensor
sited on the A38 near Plymouth.The sensor and
it's associated electronics not only weigh each
of a vehicles axles but also record it's speed
and type classification. In addition the PV system
powers a pair of transmitters for data & communications.
If you have a remote power application
and would like to know whether PV could provide
a reliable, cost-effective, solution please
contact
us.
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