Lodesun

How did LodeSun start?

In spring 2008, the red cross kindergarden in Hetlingen decided to call the local education as "close to nature"  as possible.

At the same time it became known that on the other side of the river Elbe at Bützflether Sand four coal-fired power plants should be built. That was a contradiction in its own!

It led us to the decision to demonstrate the possibility of an alternative energy system on the roof of the kindergarden, because:

Where, if not in children's minds, starts rethinking?

We wanted to create an equivalent of the electricity consumed by the kindergarden and this then please created emission-free. For us, the only option was a photovoltaic system.

Moreover, the energy yield of PV should be compared to the energy consumption of the kindergarten for the children to be visually recognizable, without beeing forced to read numbers - which they are usually not able to do at that stage / age.

In a very smooth interaction with the community bodies, a contract was drawn up, which enabled the use of the roof of the municipality's own kindergarden for a photovoltaic.

Current production data you find HERE

After some research we found the display "Visikid" which was developed from a thesis of FH Cassel and seemed to be suitable, to show the children the energy production of the photovoltaic, without having to read numbers.

All that remained was to visualize the electric consumption of the kindergarten. We achieved this by building a second LED bar, which is analoge to the Visikid display.

The left LED bar now shows the yield of the photovoltaic, the right the consumtion of the kindergarden here with one LED corresponding to about 850 watts. But this is adjustable.

The sun rotates on the display and transports, in analogy to the energy produced little red balls into a tray. For the "adults" you can also read the data on the three LCD displays.

The Visikid display was donated to the kindergarden through Henkel Futurino Foundation.

The PV itself:

The System was set up by Sieburg Electrical.

It consists of 78 kWp solar watt modules of the type M220-60 GET AK 230Wp with together 17.94 kilowatts output.

Three SMA Sunnyboy inverters, 7000TL, 6000TL 3300TL &

is monitored by a SolarLog 800, which is now showing via DSL, the production of the system in real time

In cooperation with the local grid supplier, we created a new terminal building for the nursery with two electronic counters for consumption and production, each with an S0 output for controlling the Visikidsystem.

The modified system was created by Visikid photovoltaic and delivered.

The plant went into service the first August 2008, after nearly three months planning.

For all who have helped with the construction of the system, we would like to thank very warmly and hope that the kindergarden can take in the years from now on an educational benefit -

The children can state:  "our electricity comes not from coal - our electricity comes from our roof.

Again:

Where, if not in children's minds, starts rethinking?

Whether the facility has generated  enough output at the end of the first year of operation, we can report in August 2009.

August 2009: SUCCESS!

It worked out! The plant has produced about as much electricity to power the kindergarten and two large family homes with electricity! Namely 18,500 KW in one year.

Or different and better: The school (just next to the kindergarden) and the kindergarten in Hetlingen are concerning there electrical power absolutely CO2 neutral because the production of the system exceeds the combined use of school and kindergarden!

The consumption of the kindergarten is approximately 5000 kW, and the school is in the range of about 6000 KW - well, it really works!!

Should there be a further initiative to build similar plants, or has another kindergaden a roof available, we would be happy to assist...

We are happy to look into the feasibility of an analogous project - please contact us at Lodesun@Lodemann.eu

Addendum in fall 2011: The plant is still going smoothly, producing about 18.000 kilowatt per year!

The kids in the kindergarden are meanwhile monitoring the LED displays and start to switch of lights etc. when the consumption is higher than the production -

energy awarness is created!