Adding a Solar Array

We live in an almost perfect area for generating electricity with solar panels. We have long days of sunny sky, weather that is suitable - solar panels have greater output when they are cold (we have lots of that). a great view of the southern sky and an electric company that supports grid tied solar arrays.

We decided to install eighteen 330 watt solar panels and a 6 kW inverter which covers our electrical usage year round.

The solar panels are supported by a series of 3" galvanized schedule 40 pipe set into concrete piers in the ground. This is a rather large DIY project for Julie and me, but is coming along well.

I'll show progress pictures as this goes along and update frequently.

This is not our solar array, but does give an idea of what a ground mount array looks like

This shows a typical installation of supporting piping

This is looking to the south where our array is to be located

We made a trip to Grand Junction to the steel supplier to pick up the pipe for our support structure.

Ready to head home

While in Grand Junction we noticed work underway on the cellular tower "Tree"

Interesting disguise of a cell tower...

We hired a back hoe operator to dig the needed holes for the sonotubes needed to support the pipes

Four backhoe slots were all that were needed

We then clamped 2x4's in the correct spacing to the sonotubes and lowered them into the holes

Everything was aligned and leveled

Cross bracing was added and then we back filled the holes using our compact tractor

Next we assembled the upright and cross pipes and lowered them into the sonotubes

Next will be the construction of wooden cradles to hold all of the pipes in alignment

Looking thru the pipe to check alignment

We figured out how to make mixing concrete as easy as possible. We bring the bags to the mixer using the tractor  and load them into the mixer after splitting them in half so only 40 poundsis carried at a time.

An early season snowfall stopped work for a few days

We have added a retaining wall to level out the area under the array

This small shelter will house the electronics

Just about ready to begin back filling with dirt and a topping of gravel

25 tons of 3/4" rock were delivered

This gave the tractor a workout moving the gravel under the array

We spread a special fabric under where the gravel goes to reduce weed growth.

Next we added the rails that support the panels

We started adding panels and worked until darkness fell

Six panels to go...The little shed is where the inverter will be located

Tennessee Pass Rail Fanning

 There is a rail line thru Colorado that goes from Pueblo to Salida and up thru Minturn and to Dotsero.

This is the Tennessee Pass line, the highest rail line in continental North America. It was operated by the Denver and Rio Grande and most of the line was taken out of service in the late 1990's.  Steep grades, massive winter snow clearing, rock falls and high altitudes made this a challenging line to keep open. It was not abandoned however, just taken out of service. It is currently owned by the Union Pacific.

There are efforts afoot to try and reopen the line by competitors of the Union Pacific railroad to allow grain farmers in western Kansas to ship grain to the west coast for shipment overseas. I'm not sure how likely that is to happen.

Julie and I wished to follow the rail line and see how it has held up after decades of disuse and what might be required to update the infrastructure. This called for a road trip!

In addition to chasing the rail line we enjoyed other highlights of Colorado on our road trip.

A cloud settled over our home for our departure making for interesting morning lighting.

Our valley was filled with cloud

Our miniature schnauzer is always ready for a road trip

Great wild flowers along the way

We headed over the newly paved Cottonwood Pass and checked out the miles of wooden fences.

Much of this is open range so we get to watch out for the cattle.

Pretty hard to beat the views of Mountain Lakes, in this case Taylor Reservoir 

This is typical of the condition of the rail line north of Buena Vista. Note the typical black ballast used by the Rio Grande

A short hike gets you to the Tennessee Pass tunnel portal

Hard to tell if the curtain intended to protect the tunnel from snow and ice is still intact.

All of the signalling infrastructure is in poor condition

Portions of the rail line follow the river

In WWII troops were trained nearby in mountain warfare. We had lunch at a monument to their service.

A trip thru the town of Red Cliff shows lots of interesting architecture

The bridge at Red Cliff is on the list of National Historic Monuments and is beautiful.

The rail line travels under both of the bridges at Red Cliff

After taking the previous picture my eagle eyed wife said "What is That?"

She found this set back into a crevice in the rocks

We had hoped to hike these rails two miles in to the Eagle mining complex located along the tracks. It seems vandals have made this a serious trespassing issue with law enforcement issuing fines. We decided not to go and have to rely on an interesting YouTube video of hikes of others into the area. One is found at this link:
Hike to Tennessee Pass Mining Complex

Lots of No Trespassing signs in this area

The rail yard at Minturn where the helper engines were stored to assist trains over the steep grade is intact.

We  headed home from Glenwood Springs and checked out the Coke ovens at Redstone

Such a pretty drive through the valley

We stopped to see the coal mining structures near Somerset.

The rest area overlooking Morrow Point Reservoir found our light fading.