by Harry Archer

Q: Why doesn’t Holden get batteries to store energy from the Hydro?

Holden Village does have batteries and utilizes them extensively.

Holden generates hydroelectric power from the flow of water in Copper Creek. With enough water, up to 300 kilowatts of energy is steadily available. However, the seasonal decline in creek flow begins reducing generating capacity in late summer, to as low as 30 kilowatts by April. Meanwhile, demand varies constantly as things turn on and off in the village, strongly influenced by the time of day and what is going on. If demand exceeds supply, the generator is overloaded, slows, voltage drops, and relays trigger an outage to protect equipment in the village from being damaged. When demand is below supply, some of the electrical energy available is lost, wasted. Energy must be saved and stored to be used when needs exceed generating capacity.

Nearly ten inches of rain fell over four days in early November pushing Railroad creek to levels equal to those of the 2003 flood that washed out the vehicle bridge.

In simplest terms a battery is just an assembly to store energy, and energy takes different forms. At the Hydro, a Pelton (water) wheel converts hydraulic energy to mechanical energy to turn a generator for electrical energy which we convert again to heat, light, cook, run tools and equipment, etc. In 1 hour, 1 kilowatt will raise the temperature of 10 gallons of water 41°. Holden’s Load Controller turns its water heaters into Batteries as a storage medium for electrical energy whenever available.

The mysterious Load Controller began life in the village as the “Gizmo” over 20 years ago regulating the seven water heaters and the coffee urns in the Hotel to reduce power outages, but also exhibited a potential to reclaim energy when available. The Gizmo sensed the drop in electrical frequency as excess demand slowed the Hydro, and turned off a water heater element (4.5 kilowatts) to avoid a power outage. When frequency rose to normal, an element was turned on to keep the generator fully loaded. During the lowest power months, full electrical capacity could be used continuously (24 hours a day). Simple in concept, the Load Controller is a complex computerized electronic system which grew and evolved by the design, fabrication and programming of long time volunteer Rich Wilson. His expertise would be far too expensive to contract, and very difficult to find on the market.

Water heaters in Agape, Chalets and Lodges 1 and 6 were connected to Load Control by a buried cable, bringing the total to 24, expanding the season of full utilization. In 2004 a woodfired boiler with 1300 gallons storage capacity was installed in Lodge 6. The village fitted it with electric heating elements connected to the Load Controller. Electricity perhaps generated at 4:00 in the morning, heats that building all day. This season, we began using full electrical capacity around the clock on October 13th. The Koinonia remodel will include another system like Lodge 6 and the Essex will be replaced by an even larger 1800 gallon unit to heat Chalets 1 through 6 (including Ch.2). Separate electric boilers in Lodge 1 and Chalet 2 are also regulated by the Load Controller, and the one in the Garage by a stand alone system.

The Load Controller maximizes our utilization of energy from the Hydro to meet the villages energy needs, many times what it did without “batteries.” (Large public utilities are beginning to use residential water heaters the same way.) This, in conjunction with conservation, minimizes the use of wood and diesel, both costly in acquisition time and money, and detrimental to the environment.

Harry Archer was Holden’s Utilities Coordinator from 2000-2006.