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Solar in the Jungle Project at Camp Leakey in Kalimantan Tengah Puting National Park, Borneo, Indonesia - 1996

This collection of photos is from the Solar in the Jungle Project at Camp Leakey in Kalimantan Tengah Puting National Park (Borneo), Indonesia, a scientific research station and a rehabilitation centre for orangutans. The project involved the installation of a 1-kilowatt photovoltaic/battery system.

Before the PV system was installed at Camp Leakey, researchers wrote their notes and ate by candlelight. Activities in the rain forest were performed with the aid of flashlights powered by disposable batteries. With no place on Borneo to recycle the batteries, thousands ended up in rivers, bays, and the surrounding ocean.

This Solar Electric Generating System was made possible by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, ASE Americas Inc., the Colorado chapter of the Orangutan Foundation International, and hundreds of individual and companies whose generous contributions and efforts supported the project.

#04268 - Boating is the only mode of transportation around much of Borneo and the only way to get to Camp Leakey

#04270 - Tom is one of the local orangutans at Camp Leakey. He has a clever trick that he likes to pull on visitors. He distracts them by grabbing for their camera equipment but then takes their lunch!

#04273 - Batteries that will be used for storage at the Solar in the Jungle Project at Camp Leakey. PV panels are used to charge the batteries and for electric lighting in the huts.

#04277 - John Thornton (NREL Researcher and volunteer) Installs a PV panel at the Solar in the Jungle Project at Camp Leakey. The PV panels are used to charge batteries for lighting in the huts and for charging battery packs for flashlights.

#04280 John Thornton (NREL Researcher and volunteer) buries wiring for the PV panels. The wiring must be buried to keep the orangutans from pulling it up.

# 04282 - Siswi and her son Samson, two of the local orangutans look on as volunteers construct a PV array for the Solar in the Jungle Project at Camp Leakey. The PV panels are used to charge batteries for lighting in the huts and for charging battery packs for flashlights.

#04285 - Orangutans are curious animals. Here Siswi, one of the local orangutans tries to help saw forms for cement at the Solar in the Jungle Project at Camp Leakey.

#04286 - John Thornton (NREL Researcher and volunteer) holds one of the local baby orangutans. It was times like this that made the hard work of organizing and installing the PV panels at the Solar in the Jungle Project at Camp Leakey worth it.

#04290 - Orangutans are very curious animals. Siswi and her son Samson, two of the local orangutans "help" volunteers at the Solar in the Jungle Project at Camp Leakey.

#04295 - Installation of the PV panels at the Solar in the Jungle Project at Camp Leakey is nearly complete in the photo. A chain link cage will be built around the panels to protect them from the orangutans.

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