Power the Campus!

     

Solar Power System Down – Urgent Need

The solar power system for the Philadelphia Baptist Church (PBC) campus has failed due to battery and inverter malfunctions. After consulting with Pastor Francois, I reached out to Brighten Haiti, a nonprofit specializing in solar power solutions for education, commercial, and residential sectors. Pastor welcomed the idea of working with Brighten Haiti and has hosted their team on two occasions in order for them to assess campus energy needs and propose solutions.

Loving Haiti’s objective is to establish a reliable, sustainable power source that ensures uninterrupted electricity for the PBC campus, supporting both current and future operational demands.  Will you join us in this effort?  Please read on.

In a recent meeting with Brighten Haiti’s Project Manager, Doug, and Field Superintendent, Rolguens, we faced a stark reality:

• The existing system’s batteries and inverters are completely nonfunctional.
• The original system, installed nine years ago, provided 7.08 kW of power, but demand has more than tripled.

To compensate for growing energy needs, the campus relied on supplemental energy from a 7-kW diesel generator. This was still insufficient to meet peak demand. Load management strategies were implemented, but issues persisted—leading to failures in the inverters, batteries, and generator.  Now, with the solar system down, the diesel generator is overburdened, causing frequent shutdowns due to overload. In addition, diesel fuel to run the generator is both expensive and increasingly difficult to access in Pignon.

Brighten Haiti has proposed a one central solar power (collection, generation, storage and distribution) system to meet two distinct energy needs in the upper and lower campuses. Their proposal is summarized below.

The Central Solar Power System:

• Remove, retain and move the 24 existing solar panels (295W) producing 6.0 kW(originally designed for 7.08 kW) to the administration building rooftop.
• Install 51 new solar panels (480W) producing 24 kW upon the administration building rooftop.
• Install one 5kW, and two 11.4 kW Solis hybrid inverters.
• Install four 16 kWH RJtech LifeP04 lithium iron phosphate batteries (48V).
• Include a monitoring system and electrical connections.
• Include shipping, customs and installation costs

The lower campus new capacity (20. kW) includes the schools, administrative buildings, and church.

The upper campus new capacity (10. kW) includes the children’s home, hospitality suites, cafeteria, sewing center, and Pastor Francois & Aldinn’s residence.

The total cost of the proposed 30 kW solar power system with shipping, customs, parts and installation is $81,500, perhaps our most ambitious project to date.

To jumpstart Loving Haiti’s fundraising effort, Jill and I are creating a $5,000 MATCHING FUND, doubling the impact of the donors’ contributions up to $5,000—bringing us $10,000 or 12.5% closer to our $80,000 goal.  Will you join us?

Thank you for being a part of this mission! We deeply appreciate your support in bringing sustainable energy to the PBC campus.

Mark Bell                                                                                                                                                                 

President, Loving Haiti