Solar Power
Portable PV
Array Fills
Big Hole Stock Tanks
 A
pump powered by the portable photovoltaic array (right) fills stock tanks
in the Big Hole Valley in Southwest Montana. Partners on this demonstration project
include the Montana Department of Environmental Quality; Sandia National Laboratory;
Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks; the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service; the Beaverhead Conservation District; Vigilante Electric Co-op;
and the Big Hole Watershed Committee.
Bonneville
Environmental Foundation
A goal to produce renewable energy while simultaneously improving riparian habitat
is highlighted by two new Bonneville Environmental Foundation
(BEF) solar projects. "The people proposing
them understood how moving stocks off streams made sense biologically," said Angus
Duncan, president of the Foundation.
He believes the two projects will reinforce the view that solar has extended niche
applications in the Northwest, particularly for small electric loads a nominal
distance beyond the grid.
One project is in Washington, the other in Southwestern Montana's Big Hole watershed,
where a solar stock-watering project could benefit local fish populations.
According to the National Center for Appropriate Technology, which proposed the
project to BEF, the Big Hole River frequently has low water conditions near the
end of the short summers. Low water and associated high water temperatures can
be lethal to the river's valuable and unusual fish populations. The Big Hole is
widely known as a highly productive trout stream and is home to the last native
population of river-dwelling Arctic grayling in the lower 48 states.
"Ditches are an extremely
inefficient means of delivering water to cattle," because of evaporative losses
and leaks, according to NCAT's proposal. A total of 14 stock-watering wells (including
one with solar-powered pumping) were recently installed next to eight large stock-watering
ditches.
NCAT plans to work with other stakeholders "to build one additional solar-powered
stock-watering well … at a key location in the Big Hole watershed by the fall
of 2001, enabling ranchers to leave water in the stream during critical low-flow
periods.
This project would significantly increase the margin of safety for grayling and
trout populations." The project seeks to expand awareness among ranchers of solar-powered
water pumping.
"We all have high hopes … that the demonstration of these technologies and their
use in cost-effective applications like the solar watering will inspire more use
of the resource," said BEF board member Rachel Shimshak.
NCAT
photos
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