The Energy Center (TEC) and Sutron Corporation of USA have completed the installation of an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) at Walewale in the Northern Region of Ghana. The installation was funded by a research grant from the African Union for a project titled "Potential of distributed grid-connected solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems in rural electrification in Africa".
The project is being implemented in partnership with University of Botswana and the University of Flensburg in Germany.
As part of the installation, a training programme on installation and management of AWS was implemented by Sutron for the project team. The training comprised:
· AWS configuration and telemetry testing.
· And field installation at Walewale Government hospital.
Sensors in the AWS include:
- Second class Pyranometer
- Ultrasonic Wind Sensor
- Air Temperature/Relative Humidity Sensor
- Barometric, Pressure Sensor
- Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge
- Total suspended particle sensor
The AWS is the second to be installed by The Energy Center in recent years; the first was installed on the rooftop of the Solar Energy Applications Laboratory (SEAL) at the College of Engineering, KNUST and has been in operation since 2012.
The AWS will be used to monitor climatic conditions and their impacts on solar PV performance in the Walewale Township. A 30 kWp solar PV distributed system is expected to be installed March, 2014.
To view picture of the training and installation click here
For more information about this project, contact the project coordinator (Mr. E. K. Anto) at kwakuantoh@yahoo.com.