Shek Kwu Chau's
Drug Rehabilitation Centre

"Hong Kong's first wind/solar hybrid system"

LOCATION

Shek Kwu Chau Island, Hong Kong. The island is located in between Cheung Chau, and Lantau Island. SKC is the home of one of Hong Kong's drug rehabilitation centres and is located one and half hours by boat from downtown Hong Kong.

 THE SYSTEM

The system is required to provide 24-hour sustainable 220V AC power to a new school/dorm room facility. It includes a Appropriate Energy S20000 wind turbine, a 3.4 kW solar roof, a 3 day battery bank and a 15 kVA backup genset. It can supply up to a 9 kVA peak load and a 20 kVA surge load. The system also includes two 200-litre solar hot water heaters to supply water for the showers.

Click here for a video clip of the wind turbine in action.
S20000.mpg 6.3 megs

The School Room and Dorm

The System will supply power to 3 air conditioners, 40 fluorescent lights, 10 electric fans, an overhead projector, a computer, stereo, and a backup electric hot water heater. The electrical equipment will be used in line with the amount of power they are producing from the wind turbine and solar panels.

The system was paid for by China Light and Power Research to act as a research station for remote area power systems in Southern China. As part of CLP's centennial anniversary, they will donate the system to SKC.

INSTALLATION

The project design was carried out by SPC and installed by China Light and Power under the technical supervision of SPC. The system was installed over a 3 week period with the assitance of the patients at the centre.

The Solar Hot Water Heaters

The solar hot water heaters were installed by the experienced staff at SKC.

RELIABILITY

The system has two renewable generators and a genset back up. If all that fails the system has a grid backup. The system is expected to run off of purely renewable energy 95% of the time.

MAINTENANCE

The Appropriate Energy wind turbine requires an annual inspection and service by a certified and trained dealer or installer. The process should normally take approximately one hour to complete. Bearings need to be changed once every five years and would take less than a day to carry out. Battery electrolyte levels need to be maintained by the user approximately once every 3 months. The genset needs refuelled periodically, while basic maintenance is only required every two years.

The 3.4 kWp Solar Roof

 EQUIPMENT SPECIFICATIONS

• 1 x Appropriate Energy S20000 wind turbine and tilt up tower
• 28 x 120 Wp solar panels
• 80 x 6V 300Ah (C10) lead acid batteries
• 2 x 4.5kVA inverters
• 1 x Appropriate Energy control panel including turbine controller, system voltmeter, turbine 'amps in'
• 1x Appropriate Energy load resistors to control excess power and protect batteries from overcharging
• 1 x 15kVA diesel genset
• 2 x 200 Litre solar hot water heaters
• 1 x Trace Tri-meter
• 1 Labview data logging system
• 1 NRG wind data logging system

SKC's Roman Bath