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Portable Solar Energy Power Station A Boon During Emergency
By George Sykes

The military has been using a portable solar energy power station to provide energy for mobile units for years. Recently, these units have become available for civilian use while camping or in the event of emergencies. Being able to supply electricity during power shortages, typical in emergencies, is a real plus towards recovery efforts.

The size of the portable solar energy power station needed will depend on the situation and the amount of power that may be required. To simply supply lights to an area, a small unit can be used but if the need is to supply enough power for refrigeration, lights and possible to operate water pumps, a larger portable solar energy power station will be required. They can be found to provide anywhere from 240 watts all the way up to several thousand watts, but the bigger the unit, the bigger the battery pack that will be required.

The portable solar energy power stations can usually be set up quickly and it may be easier to use different units of different sizes to perform different functions. For example, on unit may be established to provide electricity for lighting. Another larger unit can be used to supply power for refrigeration while a still larger unit can be used to power water pumps in the event of major flooding.

Size Of Battery Pack Dictates Portability

Since drawing power directly from the solar panels of a portable solar energy power station is inefficient, the power needs to be stored in batteries. Since the power generated and stored is direct current, an alternating current converter is also needed. Electrical devices are plugged into the converter and as power stored in the batteries is used, the batteries are recharged by the solar panels.

How much power that will be available and for how long will relate directly to the number and size of batteries within the portable solar energy power station. Batteries are typically not light and while some of the smaller units may include smaller, light-weight battery packs, larger portable solar energy power station units may require a truck bed or trailer on which to carry the batteries.

It should also be realized that regardless of the size and reliability of the portable solar energy power station, without sunshine they are useless. There may be enough power remaining in the batteries once the sun goes down to operate some devices or equipment, but without sunlight, once the batteries are discharged, you will have to wait until daylight to restore power.

Author Details:
George Sykes writes for various web sites writing articles about environmental issues and green energy such as solar power.

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