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Renewable Energy: Solar Energy: Systems: Arches
National Park
Devil's Garden Campground
Devil's Garden Campground is located 30 miles inside Arches National
Park. The facilities requiring electricity at the campground are two campground
hosts, three comfort stations, an amphitheater and a ranger contact station.
Electricity was historically provided by diesel generators operating 24 hours a day and consuming over 6,400 gallons of fuel annually. Generating electricity with diesel fuel at Devil's Garden Campground cost the National Park Service over $22,400 per year or $0.28/kilowatt-hour (kWh).
The emissions and noise from the diesel generators intruded on the silence of the Devil's Garden Campground and negatively impacted both air quality in the park and visitor experience.
A partnership between the National Park Service, the Utah Department of Natural Resources and the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development was created to provide the financial resources, technical engineering assistance and project management expertise necessary to install a photovoltaic/diesel hybrid power system at Devil's Garden Campground.
Project Description
In 1995, four photovoltaic/diesel hybrid systems were installed to provide
electricity for two campground host/comfort stations, a comfort station/amphitheater
and a ranger contact station. Each site has a 1.4 kilowatt (kW) tracking
array, a 4 kW inverter and a 40 kWh battery bank.
Project cost was $80,000 and financed through a cost-share between the state of Utah's Department of Natural Resources and Department of Community and Economic Development ($40,000) and the National Park Service ($40,000).
Cost-effective energy efficiency measures were identified and installed to reduce electricity use at Devil's Garden Campground facilities. Energy efficiency measures included installation of occupancy sensors and photocells, lighting retrofits in NPS buildings, daylighting and the purchase of energy efficient appliances.
Results
Photovoltaic/diesel hybrid power systems reduced diesel generator run-time
from 24 to less than 4 hours per day.
Energy efficiency measures expected to reduce electricity consumption by at least 35 percent.
Operation and maintenance costs of diesel generator system decreased from $22,400 per year to $10,000.
Environmental benefits include a significant reduction of air and noise pollution from the diesel generators. Emissions reductions are estimated to be 50 tons of CO2, 630 lbs. of NOX, 120 lbs. of SOX and 80 lbs. of CO annually.