The power of the sun  

October 1, 2009

Harold Hartman stands next to one of five solar panel arrays being erected on his farmland outside Malin.  The farmer received financial and technical aid to construct the panels to help him offset the costs of pumping irrigation water.

     MALIN — Harold Hartman says his generation missed a lot of opportunities to advance alternative energies in the 1970s when oil prices spiked and shook the globe.

   A project the Malin farmer is working on is part of an effort to advance that issue now.

   With help from government and business interests, Hartman is building a group of five solar arrays on land he farms outside of Malin. When completed, the project will generate about 16 kilowatt hours of power during the day to offset the cost of a nearby irrigation pump.  

   Multiple benefits

   Hartman said what he’s doing is a pilot project, but he and others involved want to show how solar power can be harnessed for the benefit of both farmers and the environment.

   “I’m interested in doing things that are good for the environment, and most farmers are,” Hartman said.

   A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is paying for a large part of the project, but matching funds are coming from Pacific Power, Energy Trust of Oregon, Hartman and his wife, Linda Hartman, and a business tax credit from the U.S. Department of Energy.

   “We’d like to help our customers by either finding ways to reduce energy consumption or by reducing energy costs,” Toby Freeman of Pacific Power said in a press release.

   Each array is fitted with 12 solar panels. The system also involves several innovations, such as being programmed to readjust each hour to maximize exposure to the sun.

   Collecting energy

   Also, the panels will collect power in the form of direct current, or DC, electricity, which makes them more productive so that if one panel shuts down, the rest of the array will keep working. A conversion device will transform the power into alternating current, or AC, electricity to be used by a nearby irrigation pump.  

   The panels are expected to be operational in the coming weeks and be in use during the next irrigation season.

   Hartman said the arrays won’t generate enough power to cover all his irrigation power needs, but they will help. He and others working on the project also cited its importance for national energy policy and other Klamath Basin irrigators looking for ways to improving their energy efficiency.

   “We need to approach our energy economy the same way as we approach investments,” said Phil Dussell, a solar power contractor who works with Energy Trust of Oregon. “We need to diversify.”