Tag Archives: Solar panels

New to the Rock

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Today is my first day as the Ecoguardian at the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. I was dropped off at 8:30 am with my personal gear, bags of groceries and a reminder to monitor the solar panels, batteries and the electric fence – there are more duties and responsibilities but a source of power is one of the essentials.

Power

I unpacked, put groceries away and set off to tackle the my first chore – clean the panels. The solar panels are mounted on the roof and on the side of the Energy Building which houses the diesel generator.  At this time of year, with the long sunny days and daily cleaning, it is possible to power the house systems just on solar power.  Why the daily cleaning? There are hundreds of gulls nesting here and what do we will do at least once a day? Poop!

Panels on the Energy Building roof

After hauling the cleaning supplies up to the roof and turning on the water, I thought a methodical approach would serve me best. I climbed back down and noted my “starting point” of 3.1 kW of energy being produced by the panels.  After cleaning four panels, I climbed down to check the display.  It was up to 3.4 kW.  Cleaning is one of those tasks that provide instant gratification and now, doubly so.  With all the roof panels cleaned they were producing 4.2 kW and with lower side panels it was up to 4.8 kW!  I tell myself “what a worthwhile task and job well done Christine”

Well, later in the day I have some time to sit down and familiarize myself with OPTICSRE, the software package that lets you visualize your energy system production (solar or generator), storage (battery bank) and consumption levels. It turns out that in the long time it took me to figure out the best way to clean the panels and finally get the job done (between 10 am and noon), the sun was moving, as it does everyday, and with the clear skies, was naturally approaching its peak midday production levels (see graph below). Silly me, it wasn’t all my doing!  Shame there is no easy way to determine the added benefits of cleaning the panels.

OPTICSRE graph of energy levels produced by the solar panels (green bar), stored in the batteries (dark blue bar), taken from the battery by the house systems (light blue bar) for each hour on June 11.

The software also displays live time power use. I consult this throughout the day and find it memorizing.  The image below shows the current situation at night as I write this. Very little energy is going from the panels to battery, the batteries are at near full capacity and we are operating in the red, drawing power from the battery bank.  The house (appliances, computer, lights etc) generally draw 1.3 kW of power. If I turn on all the lights in the house and the bathroom fan, it jumps to 1.5 kW. I think if we had such a monitor in our homes, we would be more aware of our consumption and our footprint.

OPTICSRE live display of the energy system

 

Heads to the wind

The another thing I discovered today was all the gulls were facing the same way because of the wind!  We went from light winds at 8:00 am to 41 knots with gust of 46 by early afternoon. Like me, if standing, they took a wider stance, arching and bracing for the gusts. I watched one trying to move travelling side-to-the-wind and being blown off a rock; most scuttle side-ways like crabs.

Bracing and ruffled in a gust of wind

A very interesting first day.

It is a privilege to be here.

 

 

Improved Solar Power

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Ecological Notes:

  • 5  Elephant Seals
    • The Beachmaster (Bernard) has left the island, most likely for one more big feed before molting
    • 2 Adult females, both starting their molt

    • 2 new (to me) animals here, either very large pups, or small yearlings …. waiting to see if they do a normal molt.
    • The only remaining pup that was born here has completed it’s first baby fur molt, and has been tentatively exploring the area by the pier, when encouraged by another new pup I don’t recognize

Tentative first tries

Meeting a new buddy

Moved into the water while he had support

 

  • 3 known Canada geese nests now, one was right by the door to the house. The gulls robbed all the eggs though, so I dismantled that nest so that they would build somewhere else.
  • Gulls and Black Oyster Catchers are pretty much all paired up now, although I have not seen any nests yet as it’s still a bit early in the season

Visitors:

  • 4 contractors stayed for 2 days to work on the solar power system
  • 3 guests of the Ecoguardian  over 2 different time slots
  • College instructors and their guests came for a brief visit and overview of the reserve

Facility Work:

  • Replacement of damaged solar panels
    • added a new array or 4 panels
    • redid most of the wiring involved

There was an immediate improvement  to the system, resulting in a reduction of generator fuel use by about 1/3. This will only improve as the days get longer and brighter.

  • Visiting guests aided the ecoguardian in some tasks better accomplished by have some else there for safety and/or lifting. (including log and firewood prep and other  wastewood and equipment moving and stacking.) they also helped with pressure washing.

Safer to cut down on the rocky shore with someone here with me

DND events:

  • 3 or 4 days of the regular blasting, with safety vessels and Marine Mammal Observers present.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessels are gearing up for the season and visit on a regular basis, often reporting the location of the sea otter and injured or entangled animals to the ecoguardian.
  • 2 jet skis in today … a little loud running against the current, but they kept proper speeds

 Noted Infractions:

  • Only one private fishing vessel in the reserve noted.

 Feature Event:

  • Spring is in full swing. Flowers are blooming, the pineapple weed is growing and of course the birds are all in courting behavior.

Weather Events:

  • very typical mix of spring weather …..wind from all directions on any given day, mix of sun, clouds and rain squalls.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

A Busy Week: Entanglements, Fall Weather

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Weather:

  • Sky overcast
  • Visibility 1-10 NM – intermittent fog with a consistent layer of wildfire smoke
  • Wind 5-15 knots W
  • Calm water, rippled surface

Visitors/Traffic: 

  • One contractor visited the island yesterday, along with Greg and Lawrence the day previous.
  • Minimal tourism and pleasure craft activity (5-10 boats coming through daily)
  • Today Marine Mammal Rescue and DFO visited the reserve by water to look for entangled sea lions that had been reported to DFO. Unfortunately we were not able to spot the animals reported. Despite multiple vessels, the view from the lighthouse, and even a drone!

Ecological Observations: 

  • The increase in sea lions seems to be slowing and tapering off. Wherever there is available space, they haul out and fight for the best place to rest.
  • The elephant seal ‘Erica’ GE103 is still sticking around, and spends most of her time resting near the base of the jetty.
  • We noticed a robin hopping around on the grass yesterday but unfortunately didn’t get a picture.
  • We did see one sea lion with an entanglement injury on Sunday evening. It was the same one reported to DFO by a visitor in the reserve (boating past). We were not able to spot him again, and today we found the flasher which had been hanging from his mouth on the ground.

Shift Changeover

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Wind: 0-20 knots NE
Sea State: 0.5 m chop
Visibility: 15+ NM
Sky: overcast clearing to sun in the late morning
Temperature: 8 C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.73 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Yesterday, Laas’ shift ended after being on Race Rocks for the past two and half months and a big chunk of the past two and a half years. I came out to the island at noon on Second Nature with Guy, Corey, two students, a family visiting the college and a friend of Laas. It was great to share in the excitement of all on the boat. I also appreciated their help carrying my many bins of food. I always get excited when the boat rounds the corner out of Pedder Bay and the lighthouse comes into view. The cacuphony of seal lion barks and belches was overwhelming when the boat pulled up to the jetty. Thanks for the great welcome home, my pinniped pals. I had a run through of the energy systems with Laas, Guy and Corey, as the equipment has changed completely since I was here almost five years ago. It’s great to be back on the Rock. Thank you Laas for leaving the place so tidy. Best of luck on your new adventures.

After the group left, I climbed the 99 steps inside the lighthouse to get a bird’s-eye view of the island. I spend the rest of the day reacquainting myself with the place and unpacking. I welcomed the slow down, as I settled into the island that I will call home for the season, watching the changes as the days become longer. I will be here for all of winter and depart soon after the vernal equinox.

Today, I continued to check out more places and do the regular tasks like monitor the energy levels, wash the solar panels, turn the composting toilet and sample the salinity and temperature of the water at high tide. On one trip up the lighthouse, I counted 336 sea lions on the rocks. There are also six elephant seals on the main island: three large males spaced apart from each other, one pregnant looking female in the centre of the island and two juvenile males.

Approaching Race Rocks

Waving goodbye

Lighthouse and elephant seals

Climbing to the top of the lighthouse

A bird’s-eye view

Solar Panels charging the batteries on a sunny day

Elephant seals

Sunset from halfway up the lighthouse

Sunset over the Olympic Peninsula

 

Working on the energy systems

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-35 knts W
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: 1-2 meter waves with white caps

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Kyle brought in a team of PTTP technicians to the island to help finish our new energy system wiring and to optimize our solar array for the greatest efficiency. Additionally, we also carried some of the older lead-acid batteries from the battery room to the tank room, from where they will be loaded on to a boat for the main island.
  • Kyle was also able to repair the Boston Whaler onsite – looks like the issue was corrosion on the contacts to the battery and the switch. He was able to sand the corrosion away and the electronics jumped to life!

Marine Mammals

  • The sea lions have completely disappeared over the last 2-3 days. Can’t see a single one around now
  • Elephant seal counts are at 2 females and 4 males – 3 of the males seemed to be all huddled up next to the student house, possibly to escape the wind.