Weyburn 鈥� What happens when you combine a solar-powered flashlight with a Prius hybrid car, build it into a trailer, and deploy it on a lease? Those concepts are clearly evident in one of the more curious exhibits at the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in Weyburn June 7-8, in CLEANTEK Industries鈥� booth in the centre of Crescent Point Place.
The light tower sported solar panels, LED lights on the tower, and an engine. It quite literally is a solar powered light tower.
Kristine McPhail is the sales manager and director of marketing, but as a small company, she noted everyone wears a lot of hats. They are based at Balzac, just north of Calgary, behind the Crossiron Mills Mall.
鈥淲e started as Horizon Oilfield Solutions in 2009,鈥� McPhail said. 鈥淲e rebranded last year to CLEANTEK Industries to make our name more synonymous with what we do, especially since we branched outside of just oil and gas. With the downturn, we needed to find other ways to generate revenue that wasn鈥檛 tied to the drill bit, so we moved into construction, as well.鈥�
鈥淚t has lithium-ion batteries, a 9 kilowatt Kubota generator, solar panels, and LED lights we make in-house,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his puts out twice the light of a standard metal-halide.鈥�
The key is the large lithium ion battery pack in their newest generation of light towers, the SolarHybrid.Li. The original SolarHybrid used lead acid batteries.
Since lithium-ion batteries don鈥檛 work so well in -50 C weather, there鈥檚 metal plates between the batteries that keep it 20 C, all year round. 鈥淚t鈥檚 completely climate controlled,鈥� McPhail said. 鈥淲e also have a fuel filter heater, to make sure it fires up reliably. One of the problems with standard light towers is at -30, -40, you just keep them running because you鈥檙e not sure if they鈥檙e going to start up. We had to make sure this will start up after being idle for six hours with the engine off. We kind of thought of everything.鈥�
In the middle of the winter, in northern Saskatchewan or Alberta, there鈥檚 not a lot of solar power to be had, which is why, she said, solar light towers haven鈥檛 been as successful. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 put out a lot of light, the light is dim, they don鈥檛 last for very long. That鈥檚 where we had to supplement with the generator. In the summer, you鈥檙e going to get a lot more solar power. If you took this to California, you鈥檇 get tons of solar power. But up here, you鈥檙e not getting a lot, so it鈥檚 mostly the intelligent control system in the unit that turns the generator on when the battery gets low.鈥�
It鈥檚 got plug-ins, too.
鈥淔or the first time ever, in a light tower, you can power auxiliary equipment without the generator turning on,鈥� she added. 鈥淭hey call it solar priority. If there鈥檚 one single drop of solar power available, it鈥檚 going out the receptacles.鈥�
In southeast Saskatchewan, in the summer time, the generator has to run for one 45-minute period to charge the batteries enough to run the lights a whole night. 鈥淭he solar鈥檚 going to go into it during the day. The lights will go on around 9. Probably around 2, 3 o鈥檆lock in the morning, the generator鈥檚 going to kick on for 45 minutes to top up the batteries, and turn off. It likely won鈥檛 turn back on, unless you鈥檙e drawing intense auxiliary power, for the rest of the night.鈥�
McPhail said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 the only light tower that has a DC gen set in it, so we are able to put the energy into the batteries and pull directly from the batteries, rather than having to pull it from the generator.鈥�
There鈥檚 44 units out there. 鈥淎s fast as we can manufacture them, they鈥檙e going out to work,鈥� She said.
The original unit came out in 2012. The took 18 months of the downturn to rework the unit into the second generation, the lithium-ion unit. The first lithium-ion units came off the line in late 2016.
鈥淏ecause the engine is only going to run 500 hours a year, you don鈥檛 even have to change the oil every year. You only have to change the oil every 750 hours,鈥� according to McPhail, adding one should still change the oil to match the season.
A standard light tower might run 4,000 to 5,000 hours a year. 鈥淲e鈥檙e about 10 per cent of that,鈥� she said of the generator motor.
McPhail said the fuel savings is 鈥渕assive, almost 17,000 litres of fuel savings a year.鈥� In addition to that is the labour cost 鈥� having someone go out and fueling the unit consistently.
The tower is powered for deployment. 鈥淚 did it in 120 seconds, in heels,鈥� McPhail said.
鈥淲e manage our whole fleet in Western Canada. We track these via GPS, so most times, we know if there鈥檚 something wrong before our customers do. Our field technician comes out here once a month and manages the towers. We deliver them ourselves.鈥�
They鈥檙e in the process of developing a local presence in Saskatchewan.
鈥淎nything with solar panels on it, the optics of it is amazing. People like being green,鈥� McPhail said. 鈥淚f you give them green options that saves them money, and its green, and it save them operational time 鈥� if we can do that, and they鈥檙e saving money, it鈥檚 almost a no-brainer.鈥澛�
