Draker Labs Selected to Monitor Solar Energy Production at 14 Arizona Schools

(Burlington, VT – June 2, 2010) – Draker Labs, a leading provider of monitoring solutions for institutional and commercial solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, has been selected by Photovoltaic Systems Manufacturing (PSM) to monitor PV systems that will be installed at 14 Arizona-based schools. Phoenix-based Salt River Project (SRP), one of the nation’s largest public power providers, is funding the installation and maintenance of the rooftop-mounted PV systems. SRP will provide teachers with training and classroom materials related to renewable energy education. Data collected from Draker’s monitoring solutions will be available to students and faculty, allowing them to apply real-world data in a variety of classroom applications.

Each of the Arizona schools will be equipped with Draker’s Sentalis™ 1000PV platform, an end-to-end monitoring solution that includes both hardware and a web interface for data management and reporting. The Sentalis hardware includes a base station that aggregates data collected from instrumentation attached to solar panels and other PV equipment as well as a variety of environmental sensors that measure solar irradiance, wind conditions and ambient temperature, all of which impact energy production. The base station includes a ruggedized datalogger from Campbell Scientific®, one of the most trusted names in field instrumentation, which collects data before transmitting it to Draker’s secure, remote servers for processing.

System performance and reporting is made available through Draker’s Sentalis web interface, an intuitive system that can be accessed from any standard Internet browser. The web interface provides a dashboard view of an entire portfolio of projects as well as site-specific data. Interactive graphs highlight real-time and historic data on a range of system-level metrics, including ‘actual versus expected’ energy production. Should the system detect an unexpected drop in performance or other anomaly, an alarm is automatically sent to maintenance personnel by email or text message alerting them to the problem. SRP will install a kiosk in the lobby of each school to inform the public about the solar energy generation occurring on the school’s rooftop. Draker will provide the screen images on the kiosks that use animated graphics to show real time and historic solar energy production.

According to Tina Skjerping Drews, SRP’s Project Manager for Solar for Schools, “the system will provide educators with a rich data set that can be used in math and science classes to illustrate real-world applications of renewable energy production. The web interface will allow students and teachers to access data for all 14 schools so students will be able to compare their schools with others in the program.”

Draker CEO Chach Curtis added that, “we are very pleased to have been selected by PSM and look forward to supporting the project’s educational and environmental goals. Draker has deep experience in academic settings and has already been deployed at a number of institutions, including the largest solar PV array installed at a North American university.”

Contact: Mark Sherman
802-865-3866 ext 109
mark@drakerlabs.com

About DRAKER: Draker provides highly accurate and reliable monitoring solutions that help owners and operators of commercial-scale PV systems maximize the efficiency and profitability of their solar assets. As a supplier of complete, end-to-end monitoring solutions, Draker provides turnkey systems that combine proven field instrumentation with an intuitive Web-based data management system and unmatched customer support. Learn more at www.drakerlabs.com.

About SRP: SRP is the third-largest public power utility in the country and serves about 935,000 electric customers through a variety of resources, including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydroelectricity, natural gas, coal and nuclear. SRP is also the largest supplier of raw water in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, delivering more than 1 million acre-feet annually.

Draker Labs
22 North Street
Burlington, VT 05401

This release was published on openPR.