Mountain hut Dom Valentina Staniča pod Triglavom is the next successful story in SustainHuts project in Slovenia

In the beginning of June 2020 electricity distribution system in the mountain hut Dom Valentina Staniča in Slovenian Alps was replaced with new photovoltaic (PV) and wind (WIND) electricity generation systems. In addition, also control system and batteries were replaced.

Fig. 1: In the mountain hut Dom Valentina Staniča pod Triglavom (2332 m) fossil fuel electrical generator is not needed anymore

The system was tested for three moths till 20^th of September 2020, when mountain hut was closed till the June 2021. The operation can be monitored through web access that enable fast identification of possible operational problems and shares of generated electricity from PV or wind.

Fig. 2: Dušan Prašnikar (PZS) and Olga Oven, the president of the Mountaineering club Javornik-Koroška Bela

“Operation of the system is perfect. Till this year we were used to run gasoline generator every day for at least 2h. Not anymore in 2020. Not a single hour gasoline generator was used. In addition it is identified that we couldn’t use all electricity available, so in the future we have to increase the electricity consumption (laugh)” says Olga Oven, the president of the Mountaineering club Javornik-Koroška Bela that is responsible for hut operation.

Fig. 3: 3 kW PV system mounted on the utility building and 1 kW StormyWings wind turbine

PV system of 6 kW nominal power consist of 20 PV modules, each 300 W (Luxor Ecoline 300) mounted partly (3 kW) on the roof of the main building and partly (3 kW) on the roof of utility building. The wind turbine of 1 kW electrical power is mounted on the position of the old wind turbine that is optimal. All energy components are linked to lead batteries of 1500 Ah capacity on 24 V. Control system VictronColorControl GX enables operational data capturing, post-processing of data and transmission via internet.

Fig 4: Energy distribution system in mountain hut Dom Valentina Staniča pod Triglavom

The team of Slovenian partners of LIFE SustainHuts project visited the hut before closing in September and checked the system, mounted the metrological weather station and officially closed yet another successful story in Sustainhuts project.

Fig. 5: All Slovenian partners (PZS, UL, RCVT) on the way to Dom Valentina Staniča pod Triglavom