Mystopia Solar

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Phillip Dupree

2020-2025

Or, how to make a camp a little more green in the wake of climate catastrophe ;)

Is your camp interested in solar power?

Awesome! Solar power - renewable energy in general - is critical to moving away from dirty fossil fuels that are actively killing the planet. Burners should be leading the way in creating a liveable future.

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I hope this slide deck helps you get started, and if you have questions, email me at phillip.dupree@gmail.com.

Why are we doing this?

According to the 2018 UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report, we must slash carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 and net-zero by 2050 in order to avert the worst impacts of climate change. ��As a climate conscious Burning Man community, moving in the direction of solar is an exercise in our own ingenuity, as well as strongly upholding the Burning Man principles of Radical Self-reliance, Civic Responsibility, and Leave No Trace.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Let’s take a step back before we jump in.

How does solar power work? Let’s try an example.

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1. You have a power load (say, a 60 Watt light bulb).
2. You want to run it for 24 hours a day.
3. You need 1440 Watt-hours of energy (60 watts x 24 hours).
4. You need a battery that can hold 1440 Watt-hours of energy (see next slide for more)!
1. batteries are rated in Amp-hours, which is Watt-hours divided by the battery voltage.
2. So a 12 volt, 100 amp-hour battery holds 1200 watt-hours of energy.
5. You need a solar panel(s) capable of supplying 1440 Watt-hours in a day.
• Solar panels are rated in Watts. Assume you get 4 hours of optimal sunlight, multiply their Watt rating by 4 to get the Watt-hours of energy a panel will provide in a day. You may need multiple panels to achieve your necessary watt-hours.
6. You need a solar power controller (outputs energy to your battery) in your system.
7. You need an inverter to turn your DC battery power into AC power for most appliances.
8. You need a good factor of safety to account for inefficiencies in panels, batteries, etc.

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Battery Storage

During the day, your power may be coming straight from your solar panels. So in the previous example, you may only need about 720 watt-hours in battery capacity, or enough to get you through night dawn, and dusk. However, your panels must still be capable of generating a total of 1440 watt-hours or more of energy in a day.

However, a good rule of thumb is to have a battery capacity equal to or greater than your power load in watt-hours, or the amount of power your panels will generate in a day. More about this in “Lessons Learned”. So, I still recommend 1440 watt-hours of battery storage.

What does this look like in practice?

A solar power system will consist of:

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• Solar Panel(s)
• Charge Controller
• Battery(s)
• Inverter (for AC power)
• Thick gauge wires, relays, circuit breakers and other misc components

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Despite all the jargon, a solar power system only requires four main components!

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Technological Advancement

Hybrid solar charger/inverters have recently entered the market. They combine the functionality of a solar charger and an AC inverter and have an efficiency of 93%+. Previously, 70-85% was common. Hybrid charger/inverters include the Growatt and the Renogy models. We decided to use the Growatt 3000 SPF model.�

hybrid charger/inverter

Off the Shelf vs DIY

Off-the-Shelf options and kits (Home Depot kits) exist, with a bundle of pros and cons.

• Less work; simpler installation.
• A tricky niche - house systems are huge and unwieldy, RV systems may not generate adequate power for a Burning Man camp.
• Rarely designed for playa conditions.

Why go DIY?

Building a solar power system yourself:

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• Builds in-house knowledge!
• Learning to think outside the box.
• Radical self reliance!
• The ability to think radically about power use and consumption both on and off the playa.
• Future flexibility
• Can use for on and off-playa events
• Evolve and update a modular system for a growing camp community
• Design for Playa
• Designed to work well on the Playa, which much off the shelf/rental solutions are not.

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However, there is no bad solar power system. Off the shelf is still great!

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Initial Inspiration: The Arc

What is an ARC?

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Hotel California pioneered modular Arcs capable of generating 2.56kWh (2560 watt-hours) and using 24V batteries. They use nine to power their entire camp. ARCs power a number of smaller subsystems.

Arcs

An Arc consist of:

• battery + battery monitor
• circuit breakers, relays, cable
• solar charge controller + 2x solar panels
• housing

Tried, tested, and iterated upon for four burns. Batteries, components, and housing optimized for the burn.

Example: Solar Art

Say we wanted to power some interactive art solely with solar energy (so green!)

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• 6m DotStar Addressable LEDs (180 LEDs)
• 10.8 Amps total, maximum. Runs at 5 Volts.
• 54W load (5v * 10.8A = 54W)
• 54W * 10 hours (run your light piece through the night) = 540 watt-hours required energy.

Because an ARC is capable of providing 2.56 kWh of energy, we have enough for our art piece 5 times over!

Example: Solar Lighting

What if we powered our dining tent lights with solar energy?

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• 12x 24” 400 lumen light bars (4.8W per)
• 4.8W x 12 light bars = 57.6 W for all light bars
• 57.6W x 10 hours overnight run time = 576 watt-hours

With a 4x+ factor of safety, we could consider lighting additional tents or using an ARC for charging as well.

Mystopia Variant:

A Star is born.

What is the Star?

The “Star” is the name of a Mystopia variant on an Arc. The idea is the simplicity of a single setup, with enough power to allow us to power some cool subsystems.

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The Star is capable of storing 10.2 kWh of energy (2x 48V 100ah batteries wired in parallel) and generating ~15kWh of energy (8x 390W bifacial solar panels).�

The Misters

Mystopia’s misting tent is what we’re best known for.

• Requires ~9 kilowatt-hours, too much for a single Arc (only 2.56 kwH).
• The 15 kwH Star can cover the misters with power left over for other subsystems.

9000 Wh (misting tent)

1000 Wh (Art)

1000wH (charging pagoda)

Star Power: 15 KwH

artist’s interpretation; not to scale

Circuit Diagram

While at first glance this may look complicated, it has all the same core components discussed on slides 5 and 6.

Look for:

1. batteries
2. inverter and solar charger
3. solar panels

Physical Diagram

This diagram shows what the physical components (not to scale) look like laid out on on a mounting platform. Note how wire gauge is an important factor.

Boxes in white represent system loads, not physical components.

batteries

charge controller / inverter

Circuit Breakers, Fuses, Wire Gauges

You may notice there’s details in the Physical Diagram not previously covered. Why are we using different wire gauges at different points in the system? Why are there additional circuit breakers and fuses?

1. Different amounts of current flow at different points in your circuit. Check your battery and inverter manuals to see how much current they input and output. Consult a wire ampacity chart to figure out what gauge (diameter) wire you need at different points in your diagram.
2. Your inverter and battery manuals will likely recommend external circuit breakers or fuses for protection. Go with their recommendations.
3. This DIYSolarForum thread will answer many questions on external breakers and wire gauges.

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The short version

Here’s a very rough rules of thumb on circuit breakers, fuses, and wire gauges.

• You’ll want a beefy fuse between your battery bank and your inverters in case something goes wrong. Probably 150-200A depending on your batteries. Rule of thumb is 1.25x max battery amperage.
• You’ll want circuit breakers between both the inverter and the AC output, and the inverter and the optional AC input. See your inverter manual for recommended sizes.
• Cabling between your battery bank and your inverters will need to be able to handle 100+ amps. You’ll probably use 4AWG cable or thicker. See your battery manual.
• Depending on your inverter output you can probably get away from 8AWG cable or thereabouts.
• Always remember - RTFM!

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Star Bill of Materials (15kWh)

sum: $6805.28

full BOM here.

Dwarf Star

Dwarf Star

The “dwarf Star” is a smaller version of the Star, capable of storing 5.1kwh of energy for about 50% less cost. While the 10.2kwh Star is more cost effective ($/kWh), we recognize that budget constraints may limit folks, and the Dwarf Star still holds more energy than many plug and play solutions.

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The Dwarf star uses one battery, less panels, and does not require a combiner box due to only using a single string of solar panels.

Diagram (5kwH)

Dwarf Star Bill of Materials (Approx)

sum: $3855.9

Still too expensive?

Want to build your own system but 4k is still too expensive? I get it! There are paths you could take to drop the price to 2-3k.

• Look at sites like watts247.com or santansolar.com. They often have sales on inverters, chargers, and panels.
• Check Craigslist for solar panels. There are a lot, and they are VERY cheap. Quality may vary, so you want to test them with a multimeter before you purchase.
• Instead of a 2 in 1 hybrid inverter/charger, look for individual solar chargers and inverters. Check Craigslist too. Ebay has lots of used inverters and chargers.
• Consider sealed lead acid batteries. They’re not as good as LIPO, but can be half the cost or less.

Comparison

2022: How It Went

2022: How It Went

In 2022, we built the Mystopia Star per the Diagram shown previously.

• 8x 390W bifacial solar panels
• Growatt 3000 SPF Inverter/Charger
• 2x Jakiper batteries

Control Panel

The main control panel, including the batteries. The only thing not pictured is 2 strings of 4 solar panels (8 total), which hooked into the combiner box, which then fed their output into the Growatt.

combiner box

AC Output

Growatt inverter/charger

batteries

On Playa

We designed wooden mounting for our 8 panels and tilted them at a 20 degree angle for maximum sunlight.

The control panel lived in an ice fishing tent for some small amount of sun and dust protection. Flaps usually stayed open for some cross-breeze.

tent + control panel

Panels, string 1

Panels, string 2

More pictures

Things got real dusty.

Panels, string 2

Lessons Learned, 2022

We had a few takeaways.

• We were conservative with our initial power estimates (assumed ~12-16 kWh generated in a day). Our 8x 390W panels were likely generating anywhere from 15-20 kilowatt-hours of power a day (8* 390W * 5-6 hours * bifacial gains). We only had 10 kWh of battery storage (2x 48V 100ah batteries). Rule of thumb: have as much battery storage as power you may generate. We had power going to waste because we couldn’t store it, and ran low on power during the night. If we had had 3-4 batteries for 15-20 kwH of energy storage, we would have had better performance.
• MORE. With 2-3x panels and batteries, we could have moved many more subsystems onto solar.
• Temperature: we got lucky and didn’t have temp issues, but if the burn had been 10 degrees hotter, we could have had an issue.

Hello, 2023

Augment the System!

In 2023 we augmented our system with four more panels, one additional battery (48V, 100Ah), and a second Growatt inverter connected in parallel to our original.

• Increased battery capacity by 50% (per Lessons Learned, 2022)
• Increased solar power by ~40% (panels were 300W as opposed to 390W)
• Increased maximum output from 3000W to 6000W (two inverters).

2023 Control Panel

We got rid of our DC output, which we hadn’t used.

We added more AC outlets since one outlet is only rated for 20A, and we’re now capable of outputting ~52! The load has to be split across outlets.

combiner box

AC Outputs

2x Growatt inverter/charger

beer

More Solar Panels

We had to augment our system on a budget, so I bought 4 used panels for cheap (~$50/per). All 4 cost as much as one one our 390W bifacial panels.

2023 Burn

All 12 panels doing their thing in the desert.

Not only was our entire misting tent on solar (two pumps, lights, fans, LED sign) but we also moved our entire sound system onto solar.

The third battery was critical in capturing and storing more energy for the night.

Lessons Learned, 2023

The system worked great, but we had a few takeaways.

• The additional battery capacity was absolutely critical (we learned from Lessons Learned 2022). We still didn’t have as much battery capacity as power generated by our panels in a day (~25kwh), so I definitely want a 4th battery next year.
• The used panels were a great way to augment our system on a budget but they did not give nearly as much power as the 390W bifacial panels, and unlike the bifacials, they generated power only when the sun was very high in the sky. I want 4-8 more of the good new panels next year.
• We’ll add a ground rod to our system, something we’ve been ignoring, but the rain and mud made us consider the necessity of proper grounding.

Ready for more in 2024

More!

In 2024 we once again augmented our system. We ditched our cheap panels and got eight more bifacial panels, a fourth battery (48V, 100Ah), and a third Growatt inverter connected in parallel to our previous two.

• Increased battery capacity by 33% (now 20kwh)
• Increased solar power by ~40+% (total of ~7kw now)
• Increased maximum continuous output from 6kw to 9kw

2024 Control Panel

She’s getting beefy.

• The third inverter required us to extend the panel.
• We needed a bigger combiner box.
• Most importantly, we made our wiring much (like, an order of magnitude) safer by using Load Centers (circuit breaker boxes) to parallelize our output and our input.

6-3 combiner box

AC Output Load Center

AC Input Load Center

A Great Leap Forward

• The biggest leap forward in 2024 was on the power distribution front.
• Our diesel grid using 50A spider boxes placed around camp and 50-100 foot Sunbelt 50A cables.
• After weeks of research we figured out how to buy 50A connectors (CS6375 and CS6364C) and wire them the AC output of our inverters. This allowed us to power spiderboxes via solar and utilize 50A cables instead of extension cords from outlets.

We ran 50A cables from these connectors to two solar -powered spiderboxes

The Second Great Leap

• For the first time we integrated our grids by wiring the diesel generator up to the AC Input of our inverters.
• This was critical because for the first time we were not constrained by our battery bank size (the perpetual bottleneck of our system).
• We set our inverters to first drain the batteries, then use AC input passthrough. This allowed us to get through the 4:30am-6:30am witching hours when our batteries ran out of juice without the system failing.
• Doing this, we could load up way more on solar and not worry about losing power during the night.
• The goal is to eventually not need a diesel generator. But using it as a backup to power far more on solar during the day and still make it through the night, was a game-changer.

AC Input load center

The Result

• Everything forward facing - our entire misting tent, sound system, and freezer - was running on solar this year.
• For the first time we extended our tendrils into the back-end of the camp. A bay of shiftpods (12) was running on solar as well.
• I estimate that 20-25% of our large, 110 person camp, was running on solar.
• This is a huge leap from ~5% in year one of solar.

More pics

Lessons Learned, 2024

The system worked great, but we had a few takeaways.

• We were never over ~35% of our continuous output capacity. Next year I’ll add at least two more solar spiderboxes.
• A battery bank is still our bottleneck. We will redouble our efforts to rent a 40-50kwh battery bank. While we looked into renting this year it did not come together in time. If we can find a fifth battery for <$1k it would still be worthwhile.
• With a fourth inverter we could utilize split phase power, which is ideal for powering spiderboxes. They’re not too expensive at ~600 and a 4th would be worthwhile. We considered replacing our parallel inverters with a bigger one capable of 10kw+ continuous and split phase but they run $3-5k, so it doesn’t make sense.
• Overall our system worked great and now we’re just optimizing and growing.
• I learned that I can’t do this on my own! The help of Zach, Hilal, Nick, Brian, Josh, and Albie was invaluable. Thank you.

Conclusion

Future Thoughts

1. How much power does your camp use? Mystopia uses a massive amount of power (AC’s for many tents, RV’s, a refrigerated pantry).
2. Our power usage spiked by 52% from 2018 to 2019 (86kWh to 131kWh) due largely to our influx of RVs. We reduced this dramatically in 2023.
3. The power our camp - and yours - usage at the burn must continue to decrease.
4. If your camp is energy intensive like Mystopia, renewables will not be able to replace diesel with zero changes. Think about how your camp can reduce your energy consumption needs. Mystopia is investing in more energy-efficient ACs and fridges and dramatically scaling back our RVs.

Questions?

Talk to me.

phillip.dupree@gmail.com

Appendix

What are we not doing?

We are not attempting to be purists overnight. We are attempting to merge immediacy with practicality by moving 5% - 15% of our energy needs onto solar in 2022.

Incrementalism is key. We do not want to lessen Mystopia’s experience on the playa, we want to enhance it.

Projected Rough Timeline

Proposed Subsystems

Non-critical systems (not catastrophic if a problem occurs for a few hours) include:

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• 110V Tent Charging (Alternatively, create a charging pagoda Mystopians are encouraged to use)
• Camp Art Project
• LED lighting (pantry, tents, etc)

Reach goals include:

• Pantry AC
• Pantry Fridge
• Misters
• Reefer

Moving Forward

What are the risks? Do we want to move forward at all?

• Increased complexity of power grid.
• Added infrastructure to transport.

What is our budget for solar?

• 2x ARCs = ~$6500 USD
• Can we afford it?

What subsystems would we consider putting on solar?

• Art, Lights (which tents, pantry, etc)
• Misting units?

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Next Steps

1. Decide on a budget.
2. Decide on which subsystems to benchmark for solar.
3. Work with camp layout team to decide ARC placement (cable length limitations to be considered).
4. Work with Hotel California to finalize BOM and understand component selection.
5. Assemble a team.
6. Get to work.

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Option 2: 3x ARC

Why Three?

Three is the threshold where our energy bank enough is large enough to start taking on bigger chunks of our grid.�

2.56 kWh

7680 watt-Hours

x3

A Solar Pantry

With 3 Arcs we are potentially powering our entire pantry, with a decent factor of safety. Just like that, we have put 5-6% of our energy grid on solar.

Bill of Materials

x3

~$9k

~$2920

Option 4: Off the Shelf

Bill of Materials

Solar Charger Controller Module

[charge controller, screen, breakers, housing]

Battery Module�[battery, battery monitor, relays, breakers, housing, usb/pwr output]

2x 300w

Solar Panels

~$450

~$1850

~$620*

~$2920

Full BOM Here.

Rental

The Black Rock Labs team is offering rentals of a “5k system” for $1500. I lack details on kilowatt-hours, required space, system voltage, etc. I have asked for more information.

Diagram

Growatt SPF 3000TL LVM-ES

Solar Panel 1

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RNG-320DX4-US

Solar Panel 2

Solar Panel 3

Solar Panel 4

inline 15A fuse

Jakiper 51.2V 100Ah Server Rack LiFePO4 Battery

80A inline fuse

AC Load

DC Load

misters

LED lights

Mystopia Sign

Charging station

Renology Battery Monitor