By John McHenry | Project Manager
As noted in our last report, our contractor, Baker Renewable Energy (BRE), completed its engineering study which indicated that the office roof complex be used, while including modest cost for the roof repair needed to support rack-based PVC system. The proposed system included 24 Canadian 210W PVC panels and micro-inverters with 25yr/10yr (respective) warranties, yielding approximately 500kWHours power per month (conservative). Baker contacted Belize Energy and Light about meter hookup, and those negotiations are proceeding.
The Holy Cross Educational Foundation reviewed and accepted Baker's proposal after modest additional cost savings were obtained by Baker -- an effort much appreciated by the Foundation. The proposal was accepted in mid-January, and Baker promptly got to work pulling together all relevant supplies from the various vendors. A large shipping pallete including all the solar panels and ancillary equipment was packaged and shipped to Amarillo Texas, where it was received by an ecumenical Christian shipping ministry, "The Word at Work (TWAT). TWAT included the pallet among an entire container truck of donated materials and arranged for shipping to Belize. The cargo ship carrying the container left port in Houston in late February, arriving in Belize toward the end of March.
Once the container truck was offloaded, our pallet was embargoed in Belizean customs until a waiver-of-duty letter was graciously provided by the local (Anglican) Bishop of Belize. The pallet was formally released without a fee to the local Belize City TWAT employee on Tuesday, April 19, at his warehouse. Board member John McHenry procured the needed forklift with the help of a local Belizean contact, which allowed the pallet to be re-trucked intact to the Carribbean Depot barge company in Belize City, where it was loaded onto a barge for the short journey out to Ambergris Caye. It reached port south of San Pedro on Wednesday evening April 20, and was trucked to the school on Thursday morning April 21.
There, an inventory was conducted showing that nothing on the bill of lading was missing or broken, save one set of tracking rails, which were later located at Carribean depot -- as they had been shipped separate from the pallet itself.
This put the project about 2 months behind the originally published schedule, which was targeting April for Site work and installation and May 1, 2012 for power on and the conclusion of Phase 1.
During early May, BRE sent two technicians to Holy Cross to complete the roof repair and preparation work that was identified in the site engineering report. This work is now done. BRE is looking at mid-to-late June to make a final install and power-on trip -- with the hope of formal project conclusion by July 1, 2011. BRE has been extremely responsible to work with including significant in-kind donations for engineering, site visits, and repair/installation activities that have resulted in our ability to stay within our initial budget estimates.
We are extremely excited to reach this point in our Phase 1 project, and are deeply thankful to our many supporters for making this possible on behalf of the children at Holy Cross Anglican School.
By John McHenry | Project Manager
By John McHenry | Project Manager
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