Camp Loll Scout Camp with Hydro and Solar Electric Power
The brand-new lodge at Camp Loll, a Boy Scout camp in the Wyoming Tetons, is powered by one of nature's most efficient energy producers: falling water.
Thousands of boys have learned about roughing it at the Boy Scouts' Camp Loll. Set in an isolated section of the Teton Mountains, Camp Loll is well off the grid. But thanks to a small hydro-power unit on a nearby stream, the camp's new lodge has electricity. Best of all, nothing in nature remains disturbed.
A trench was dug to divert enough water from the camp's stream to fill a 1 1/2" pipe, with a total fall (elevation drop) of about 150 feet. After the pipe was laid, the hillside was returned to its natural state.
An ES&D Turgo microhydro unit about the size of a bread box (shown sitting on a chair) provides up to 1,000 watts of power. In this application, it produces about 500 watts continually. The electricity is then stored in a battery bank (below) so that it's available when needed.
Bill Wangsgard, camp director for the Trappers Loop Boy Scout Council (sitting on the ATV), and Layne Christensen, a member of the council.
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