On Saturday, October 2nd from 10am to 3pm Southern Illinois homeowners open up their homes to showcase solar energy technologies! The tour is mostly on the Southern Illinois wine trail through the beauty of the National Forest. Please watch this page as we add more tour locations closer to the date. Southern Illinois Solar Tour The Heartland Solar Tour part of National Solar Tour
offers open-house tours to show how you can use solar energy and
energy efficiency to reduce monthly utility bills and help tackle
climate change. Dates & Times: Saturday, October 2nd 10:00a.m.-3:00p.m. Instructions for taking this tour: Please note: This event is a self-directed open house tour. Some of the places are open year round by appointment so feel free
to contact us at 618-893-1717 or email tech@aessolar.com
This Home and Farm consists of multiple systems; one powers the barn and consists of 300 watts of Photo watt photovoltaic (PV) solar electric modules, 4) 6 volt deep cycle batteries, and a 1500 watt inverter to produce 110 volt AC to run the lights, radio, and the occasional power tool. The house system is also a stand-alone system that powers the living room. This system is small but simple. The panel (195 watts of PV, 4 modules) charges four 6 volt sealed deep cycle batteries that power a little 300-watt inverter. A plug strip in the living room provides a simplistic breaker. Also a RV trailer system, consisting of an BP 85 watt module charging a battery which runs lights, laptop, cell phone, fans and a radio. Also see two solar powered attic fans in operation. Advanced Energy Solutions will have their Solar Mobile Power & Training Trailer at this location.
Bowman Residence This Home net metered grid tied system is nestled up at the end of a valley on the hilltop with a Fronius 4000 watt inverter. This system was one of the first systems installed under Ameren's net metering program. Magniel Residence A 2.1Kw PV array completely powers this off-grid, owner-built home. This system adequately powers a shallow well pump (cistern source), a chest freezer, a standard size fridge, laptop, window ac unit, front-loading washer, microwave, compact fluorescent lighting, bread machine, etc. Our domestic hot water is heated by a solar batch heater in the summer, and a loop through the wood furnace in the winter. We have 2 solar hot air panels set up for demonstration, and for those interested in such things, a low-tech composting toilet is located in the outhouse (we also have indoor facilities). And we grow edible mushrooms--on logs, not in the outhouse. As for food, if the sun shines, we will have something baking in the sun oven, and chips and salsa will be available for grazers. Directions: Maggie Lane is 2 miles north of Olive Branch on the Tamms/Olive Branch road. Turn and go 1/4 mile west on the lane, through a gate that says "go solar', and it is another quarter mile to our home (one half mile from the blacktop). Dayempur Farm & the Permaculture Project This Farm is a grid connected back up PV system that produces electricity for the farm. System includes 1200 watts of Siemens PV solar modules, a 403 wind gen-set, run through two Trace 4048 inverters producing both 110 and 220 volt AC, with 16 Surrett Rolls 6 volt deep cycle batteries for back up power. Directions: Drive south on highway 51 from Carbondale, go past the wine trail signs near Cobden road, past the Karl Sweitzer vegetable stand off the road to the right and start looking for Spanish Bluff Rd. on the left as you come up the hill. Turn left on Spanish Bluff Rd. The road forks, take the left fork. Go maybe a 1/4 of a mile and the road branches into 3 roads, look to the right for parking. See the barn, the system is behind the barn. To go from this site to site 1 go back north on 51 and follow the wine trail to the west through Cobden, Alto Pass, and Pomona. This site is open year round by appointment. Muldoon & Ashby residence This Home system is 2000 watts of Kyocera modules strategically placed on the roof, with an Outback charge control, a Xantrex inverter, and 8 6 volt deep cycle batteries for back up power. Butch Dunn residence The first straw bale home in Southern Illinois was built by Eco-logic Construction who specializes in alternative construction techniques and high efficiency homes. This site is open year round by appointment.
View Larger Map Southern Illinois University The system is located on the SIUC Campus along Rt. 51/Illinois Ave. between the power plant and the tennis courts. There is an informational sign located outside the power shed behind the solar array. Please feel free to walk around and view the system. If you have any questions about the system, please email them to Justin Harrell at justinh@pso.siu.edu.This site is open year round by appointment.
Residence 8777 Freeman Spur Blacktop
This system is a bit off the road on the shop and the grid intertie system consists of 32) Evergreen 180s flush roof mounted and going into a SMA SUNNY BOY 6000U WITH DISPLAY
Please recognize our sponsors.
Illinois Renewable Energy Association
www.illinoisrenew.org
Saturday October 2nd 2010– National
Solar Tour. Solar powered and energy efficient homes and buildings
in Southern ILLinois and St. Louis and throughout the nation
will be shown on public tours. Find out how your neighbors are trimming
their energy bills, increasing their energy independence and taking
steps to address global warming. Learn about energy efficiency,
speak with homeowners and experts and learn how solar technology
works, what it costs and why it makes sense. The American Solar
Energy Society (ASES) is coordinating this 13th annual event in
what has become the largest demonstration of installed renewable
energy technologies and energy efficient building practices in the
United States. To find a tour near you visit www.NationalSolarTour.org
or contact your local organizer Advanced Energy Solutions at 800-229-0453
or tech@aessolar.com
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The SIUC solar power system consists of 176 BP Solar 3160 photovoltaic (PV) modules, each rated at 160 Watts. The array is divided into 2 subarrays, each consisting of 8 parallel strings of 11 modules in series. At the maximum power point, the array produces 28.16 kW at 386 Volts and 72.8 Amps. The arrays are ground mounted at a fixed 30 degree tilt angle to maximize annual energy production in our climate and latitude. The DC power output of the array is routed to a single inverter which converts it to AC power at 208 Volts, delta configuration. This AC output from the inverter is routed through a 1:1 dry-type isolation transformer, which converts the power to 208 Volts, wye configuration. Then the power is routed through an AC fused disconnect and connected directly to the SIUC Campus electrical grid. The inverter monitors the PV array output and the grid power quality continuously and controls the interface between the two. When there is solar power available and the voltage and frequency of the grid are within acceptable limits, the inverter will convert the DC array output into AC power exactly matching the grid frequency and voltage. All this solar power is used immediately on campus as it is produced, reducing the purchases of electricity from AmerenCIPS. The system was commissioned in the summer of 2004 and to date has produced over 60,000 kWh of clean solar energy. 
