A Christian ministry in the Caribbean is using advanced electrical safety test equipment provided by Seaward to more efficiently measure the capacity of recycled photo voltaic (PV) panels it receives under a renewable energy donor partnership.
Food For The Poor-Haiti is part of the USA-based Food For The Poor Christian ministry that serves people in poverty in primarily 17 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. In Haiti, it works to provide people with much needed food, housing, healthcare, education, fresh water and emergency relief from its Port-au-Prince base.
It also provides support and resources for a host of small-enterprises designed to help local people become more self-sufficient and improve their lives through greater access to work, education and learning resources.
To support this work, the charity is acquiring hundreds of recycled PV modules through Brighten Haiti to provide a reliable, off-the-grid 3 – 14kWp energy supply which powers the hundreds of fishing stations, schools, churches, orphanages, computer labs, street lighting and well water pumping stations dotted across the country.
The first batch of 560 second-hand solar panels – which can still retain up to 80% of their original capacity – have been donated to the ministry by organisations that are upgrading their existing PV installations with new units. These old panels are being checked for current power capacity using a portable multi-function PV210 solar tester from Seaward. This ensures the panels are comprehensively measured and safety tested before they are assigned to the projects that best suit their capacity.
Specifically, photovoltaic energy project engineer for Food For The Poor-Haiti, Francisco Marcano, and his technical colleagues look for current vs voltage (I-V) curve tracers that can record irradiance and temperature.
This allows measurements to be converted to STC, providing an accurate comparison against the module’s original specification. Using simple push button operation, the PV210 can also carry out all the electrical tests required by IEC 62446, including maximum power point voltage, current and power, and insulation resistance.
Food For The Poor-Haiti’s kit also includes the SolarCert PV reporting software to record and store data from each checked panel. Once stored, Francisco Marcano can quickly search through the data, view and print records as part of an effective test regime and asset management programme.
The charity’s investment in renewable energy technology comes because only a limited number of Haiti’s population has access to the national power grid. Fuel prices and the high cost of logistics supplies also limit investment in diesel power gensets for the majority of people, said Food For The Poor-Haiti’s Francisco Marcano.
He added that there are plans to start to use the PV210 tester to carry out safety and performance checks on all of Haiti’s existing PV infrastructure: “I have been working in solar photovoltaic installations for over 12 years, and the Seaward tester is the best one I have used so far. We are very pleased with the performance of the equipment, which allows us to check the condition of each panel in less than a minute, improving our logistics, transportation and installation operations.”
The Seaward PV210 forms part of a comprehensive range of Seaward solar PV testing equipment. To find out more click here
