A major news channel reported on GreenSol project in Vodlozersky NP
We held a press tour to Vodlozersky NP to show pilot sites and achievements of our project, and GTRK Karelia has published a piece of news on the trip.
Video (in Russian)
Translation:
National Park Vodlozersky has become more environmentally friendly, diesel generators have been replaced with solar panels, and electric heaters and stoves with heat pumps. These are the results of the cross-border cooperation project "Green solutions for nature protected areas". Similar eco-transformations also took place in Kivach and Kostomukshsky nature reserves. More details in the report by Egor Buyalo.
Voice-over text:
Vodlozersky National Park has got 2 solar power plants, they are designed for lighting tourist camps, charging phone batteries and computers of tourists. It is no secret that a solar day in Karelia is short, so there are batteries near the power plant. During the day, they are charged with solar energy, and at sunset they begin to supply it.
Sergey Korolev:
If there is no sun, with fully charged batteries, they will have about 5 kW*h (stored energy). For a kettle, on average it consumes about 1.0-1.5 kW, that is, the kettle can boil for up to one and a half, two or even 3 hours! Therefore, we can say the energy reserve is quite large!
Voice-over text:
The accumulated energy is enough for charging gadgets, lighting the territory, powering computers and towers, that brought Wi-Fi to the tourist camps. There is also a camera installed here (Okhtoma torusit camp) to inform of forest fires, but there is not enough "clean" energy for the whole year – in winter, gasoline generators are used. However technological solutions were found and heat pumps and solar panels significantly increased the comfort of staying in the national park, reduced the cost of heat and electricity without causing harm to nature. Further introduction of eco-technologies is planned for the future.