Enhancing Off Grid Winter Energy in Alaska

Описание: It was time to make more off grid winter solar power using a couple of Stihl chainsaws. It hurt a bit felling the last standing birch trees, but they had to go in order to produce more power during the winter solstice for our off grid homestead in Wasilla, Alaska.

My two favorite saws, the Stihl MS260 Pro and MS441C Magnum, handled the dirty work of bringing down the last birch in the 2.5 acre pie shaped clearing to allow more direct sunlight to hit our off grid solar pv arrays on the shop wall. Though they both had very dull chains, they managed the task with ease and only the MS260Pro got stuck once due to a miscalculation on a wedge cut depth.

The project provided a great opportunity to test and play with some new "tools" and a few of my favorite "toys" as well. I ended up adding a DJI Air 3 to my videography tool collection last August or so. While I am not proficient at flying it yet, it still offers a great aerial perspective of the property and what it takes to keep it moving forward.

I have added some bonus footage at the end of the Bobcat T190 taking care of winter chores using a Skid Pro 72" snowblower which takes the task of clearing the 1/5 mile driveway and turns into a pure pleasure. What used to take 3-4 hours with the dirt bucket now takes 30-40 minutes and I end up taking the time to clear some of the main road in at the top of the hill just for fun. I have to admit, winter chores from inside of the heated cab of the Bobcat T190 just don't seem like chores at all.

Progress has been slow for the Wasilla homestead, but it is being made. There are a lot of milestones planned for this coming season so be sure to subscribe to the channel to be updated when new videos showing what we has been done have been uploaded.