power to the internet

Thu Dec 26 18:37:06 UTC 2019

On 12/26/19 10:19 AM, Jason Wilson wrote:
> As a small WISP operator in Northern California and well into the 
> urban interface we fell victim to the PSPS this year. Thousands was 
> spent on upgrading battery plants that would normally hold during a 
> short outage and generator purchases, whether it be small inverter 
> style generators for small sites to permanent standby site generators 
> for those sites that are larger or a PITA to get to. We still have 
> more work to do and hope to be better prepared for next summers rounds 
> of shut offs.  I am currently developing a portable trailer mounted 
> solar/battery plant to replace the portable generators just for fuel 
> cost savings since I spent just about $500/week in generator fuel 
> alone for the largest outage.
>
Yeah, that's the biggest change: the outages are 2-3 days each. Maybe 
they'll get better but their stated goal is to inspect the entire 
distribution system before turning power back on, so that is going to 
take some time no matter what.

And the fuel cost is definitely a consideration. Unfortunately October 
and November is pretty lousy for solar. Wind might be better since that 
is the reason they're doing the PSPS in the first place :)

Mike