Ban Nern Phayom School is located in the remote, undeveloped region of Bueng Nakhon subdistrict about a 90-minute drive from the Hua Hin city center, with two teachers and 51 children in grades 1 to 6. There is no national electricity grid in the mountainous area and the school and local villagers rely on solar power systems and generators powered by fossil fuels for their electricity.
In a joint-project with the Rotary Club of Zürich-West in Switzerland, we recently installed two new, 15-kilowatt lithium iron phosphate batteries (30 KW) and one 6-kilowatt, single-phase DC/AC inverter to replace the school’s inefficient 10-year-old, lead-acid battery and inverter on 6-7 June. The new battery system is connected to their existing 5.28-kilowatt solar photovoltaic array and electricity generation and storage are operating at peak efficiency.
Before the new lithium batteries and inverter were installed, the old lead-acid battery was rated at only 5% efficient and able to store a charge for only nine hours before full depletion every night. Recently with five days of rain and cloudy skies, the new battery system has reliably provided uninterrupted electricity with additional capacity to install more electrical appliances at the school. We remotely monitor the electricity generation and storage, and our Rotarians visited the school on 4 July for the official project inspection and handover.
Special thanks to our great friends at the Rotary Club of Zürich-West for their generous contribution, and our club’s Environment Committee Director Guenter for overseeing this sustainability project for the children.
