Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Shipping Container - Loaded!

Yesterday, May 11th 2010, was a momentus day for SunPower Afrique, and the first physical, tangible step towards the pilot project in June. The container has been loaded!
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At approximately 4PM a tractor trailer pulling a 20 foot Maersk shipping container labored its way down Pechins Mill Road, executed a 35 point turn and grunted to a halt amidst the boxes and packaged solar equipment being shipped to Togo on May 18th.
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The entire SunPower team, including SunPower Builders employees and SunPower Afrique volunteers (often one in the same these days...!) made this possible throughout the past 2 weeks. I am eternally grateful. Last minute runs to the electrical supply house, frantic phone calls to Conway and UPS tracking packages and confirming shipments, rigorous testing of all system components...
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Miraculously, when the truck arrived, so had everything else...except for one 21lb package containing an inverter controller, which we will carry with us in a month, along with all of the other items we realize-we-might-possibly-need-and-didn't-already-bring-3-extras :)
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For 2 hours, we loaded the container. All items were boxed and itemized, protected and secured and lifted into the gaping mouth of the giant, echoing metal box that will carry our prized cargo across the ocean.
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Here is a short story in pictures of what feels like the beginning of the end of a long journey, but is really just the beginning of another beginning, of a whole nother, larger, even more exciting adventure...
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