J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Thanks Mekka,

I found another (translated) acccount on here:

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nevasport.com%2Fnoticias%2Fd%2F19569%2Fun-telesqui-que-funciona-solo-con-energia-solar&sl=auto&tl=en

I think I am not the only person to be confused. This account says that the processing capacity of all the solar panels is 90.000 Kw/h which gives enough energy for 3 lifts (doesn't say what sort of lift) to move consuming 22.000 Kw/h on average. There is a big difference between a full stop and a comma when it comes to numerical magnitude!

Natives.co.uk says it is a chair lift:
First there was a solar-powered rope tow in Westendorf, Austria in 2008, now solar power has been incorporated into a chairlift in Tenna, Switzerland - and manufacturers claim the panels will geneate enough electricity even in overcast conditions...

Edit
I have found the original German article and video about it, but unfortunately I don't understand any German! It does show you how the panels tip over though.

http://videoportal.sf.tv/video?id=ec1fa3cc-e4ec-4783-b56b-05d1da6af337

Second edit
I phoned the editor of natives.co.uk and she phoned the resort at Tenna, and yes it is a drag lift.

Ally

Planetski now has a small article on this, and they say that it is a chairlift! I think maybe the photo on the other site, is of the older solar powered lift in Westendorf Austria, which is indeed a drag lift.

http://www.planetski.eu/news/1692

So, now I am even more confused :shock:

I wouldn't think a chair lift could run on 5 KW of energy. Maybe the 22,000 KWh is how much energy each of the 3 new chair lifts uses during its operational period of, say 8 hours per day for 5 months. This would equate to 18 KW, which I would have thought would be more likely for a chair lift.

Maybe I will e-mail the authors of the original article before I am driven mad wondering about this :lol:

Ally

Bandit,
I have been thinking about this. It seems that they do measure power output with photovoltaic cells over the whole year.

So, if each of their solar powered drag lifts produces 22,000 KW hours of electricity over the year, and one assumes that there is an average of 12 hours of daylight per day over the year, and one includes the summer as well even though the drag lifts wouldn't be working (I don't know if they worked it out like this of course) then the answer to the drag lift power consumption problem looks something like this:

Number of daylight hours in a year = 365 X 12 = 4,380
KW of electricity produced per hour of daylight = 22,000/4,380 = 5.02 KW

So, I would think, if I am right, that these are only short drag lifts requiring 5 KW of power to run them.

I suppose, in the summer, they could sell the solar power back to the national grid, assuming they're connected to it.

Ally

Ian Wickham wrote:I am not gonna lock my skis, I feel the resorts I attend are low risk and as Tino has suggested I just want to enjoy my holiday and not worry about what might happen,
I think my opinion might be different if I owned a €600 pair of skis which I never have or will, bandit knows what I paid for my last set of skis and I am more than happy with them, I
don't worry about a few scratches as long as the bases and edges are in good nick, I think I will continue to buy second hand skis in the future, and save my self a small fortune.

Ian,
Don't you think you might change your mind, though, if it was as easy as putting a coin in to get a supermarket trolley (and you got your coin back afterwards)?

And, I think you should put a tracking chip in your skis - Bandit's clearly got her eye on re-possessing them :wink:

Ally

Thanks Pablo :D
I did read the article, but it just says:

The panels are adjustable and can be removed to clear accumulated snow. The panels are anchored to the lift's cables and bear the entire weight of the panels.

I mean, who's going to keep climbing up there to remove and clear 625 panels, or however many there are? There must be a mechanical, automatic way of doing it, surely? Sometimes it snows continuously for days.

Ally

I expect you're right Pablo, I am a bit confused about the whole thing. Well, how do they get the snow off them then? Do you think they tip over or what? Maybe something travels over the top of them?

Ally

Mekka,
I had another look at the photo, and you're quite right. It is a drag lift.

There must be a mistake, saying each lift uses 22,000Kwh unless they mean during a whole year. I'm sure those drag lifts can run on quite small diesel generators, unless they are very steep or very long, which is one of the reasons drag lifts are more environmentally friendly than cable cars etc.

I would have thought myself, that a short drag lift would be able to function with only, say, a 5 KW diesel engine, and even a long one probably wouldn't need more than about 50 KWh.

If we assume that my guess of 50 KWh is correct, then one would need 50/0.08 = 625 solar panels of the type I described above 4 foot X 2 foot producing 80 Wh each. This seems much more feasible. The ones in the photo are in mini-arrays (or whatever you call them) 8 panels wide, only I don't know the size of each of the panels.

Does anyone have any more factual information on this? I am only guessing. I tried googling it but I couldn't find anything about the actual number of solar panels involved or the energy required by a drag lift.

I would imagine they must have a mechanical method of removing the snow from the panels, like passing under a rubber bar or something.

Ally

There must be a tremendous number of solar panels involved to produce that much electricity (90,000 KWh). I was looking at installing some, but they are very expensive and they produce very low power levels, e.g. one about 2 foot by 4 foot only produces 80 W of electricity, enough to run one light bulb (and is also very heavy - 21 lbs), like the one below:

http://www.pvpower.com/sharp-80w-pv-module-NE-80EJEA-solar-panel.aspx

Ally