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.

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.