Schott Applied Power Corp. (SAPC, Rocklin, CA) announced that it has been chosen by the National Park Service to renovate the power system at Natural Bridges National Monument near Moab, UT. The system, which uses a hybrid design of photovoltaics, batteries and diesel generators, was the largest of its kind at the time of installation in 1980. While the solar arrays continue to produce energy, the system’s battery backup and storage components have degraded and its dc/ac inverters have become obsolete.
"In terms of the delivery of energy, Natural Bridges National Monument is very remote. We’re over 30 miles from the nearest electrical grid system. It’s not feasible, cost-effective or inline with the ‘Greening of the National Parks’ initiative to run power lines into the monument," said Greg Dudgeon, superintendent, Hovenweep and Natural Bridges National Monuments. "After an extensive research and bidding process, we chose SAPC to help bring our system back to its full potential – and a little more, as SAPC’s solution uses only a quarter of the space of the original system’s components."
