Radio Caroline – update
POWERED BY THE SUN – AND THEN SOME!
648 SOLAR CAPACITY HITS A NEW PEAK
We have some ‘bright’ news about our 648 AM transmitter site at Orfordness. A while ago, we acquired a batch of additional solar panels – some were installed immediately, while others were kept in reserve to
meet our 10-12KW requirement.
On 21st April, our transmitter engineer Alan Beech, together with Mike Finney and Mark from our landlords Cobra Mist, and listeners Dave and Paul who are qualified electricians, got to work connecting those remaining spare panels.
This time we brought online our second 20KW inverter, which was installed late last year but not connected. We currently have 60 panels on the original inverter and 24 panels on the second and plan to add at least another 20 panels in a few months.
The results were immediate! By the time they finished, the solar power meter on our website was reading 16KW. The following day, under a clear sunny sky, the reading went completely off the scale!
What this means for Radio Caroline:
Major Savings: We are further reducing our energy costs, ensuring the station’s future is as sustainable as possible.
Expansion: We aren’t stopping here. We will be ordering more panels – up to the maximum capacity our inverters can handle – to eventually generate in excess of 30KW.
Giving Back: While we may need this extra power for our own transmitter in the future, we are currently feeding excess power back to Cobra Mist. It’s our way of saying thank you to a team that always goes far beyond the call of duty to help us at the transmitter site.
As always, solar power is weather-dependent, so the power generated will depend on the clouds and the time of day.
Want to see the sun at work in real-time? Check out our live solar power meter on the home page of the website.
This project is thanks to the generosity of you, our supporters.
https://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/#home.html
Mike Terry to nordx iog (2026-04-26)