No Power. No Fuel. No problem.

509Solar lighting the way in Haiti

The largest Haitian electrical retail store – Thompson Electronics – who sell consumer products for the home had to do some Blue Sky thinking after experiencing increasing difficulties in keeping their own lights on. Fortunately Haiti’s Luciano Bolivar, Steeve Cabane and the team at 509Solar knew how to help.

As a country Haiti is facing difficulties on a number of fronts, making ‘normal life’ quite difficult at the moment. The area Power Grid (EDH), for example, is only rarely able to provide power to consumers – making commerce very challenging.

Stores like Thompson Electronics and other businesses occupying the same building had been relying on a private generator running from seven in the morning to seven at night – but the added difficulty of a national fuel crisis has made even that remedy untenable.

509Solar is a Victron Energy installer based in Port-au-Prince – they were asked to design and install a solar-based microgrid. Luciano says:

The Victron Energy Microgrid installation changed everything from the perspective of people and work because now, with this system, the site no longer has the noise and pollution of a generator and we have created peace-of-mind for the owners, who were stressed not knowing how they were going to keep the building and businesses trading without fuel for the generator. The city’s electricity is almost non-existent.

Fortunately for Thompson Electronics the new system was installed in time for some busy December trading.

The really tidy 60kVA power installation comprises:

6 x 10kVA Quattro Inverter Chargers
2 x SmartSolar MPPT RS 450/200
1 x Fronius Symo 15kW
6 x BYD Premium LVL 15.4
1 x Cerbo GX with GX Touch 50
3 x Lynx Power In
101 x Canadian Solar panels for a total of 43.6kWp

This three-phase parallel 120/208V configuration Microgrid has been appreciated by many people both inside the power room and on the shop floor – together with the Medical Clinic and Women’s Fashion outlet who also benefit from the advantages of reliable power.

The difficulties faced by the country many of which stem from the disastrous 2010 earthquake also offer a tremendous opportunity to build a greener future. At present only a quarter of the Haitian population has access to grid electricity, and there is no single grid provider.

Luciano says: We at 509Solar have the most technically advanced Victron Energy expertise in Haiti, and are ready to help anyone in the country who needs power. Our goal is to make Victron Energy the standard in Haiti when it comes to renewable, reliable energy. We work with heart and passion offering our customers good quality products, professional installation and guaranteed after-sales support. And I must tell you that we also assist people who do not buy their Victron products from us. This makes us the reference in Haiti when it comes to Victron Energy.