Today I joined Melih, a friend of mine in Mersin, and two of his colleagues, Barış and Musa, for a trip to a mining camp in the mountains outside Erdemli, a town on the Mediterranean coast southwest of Mersin.

The three of them are working on a project to boost the power available to the camp. The camp is a long ways from the nearest village or store, so it has everything the workers need for weeks at a time — beds to sleep in, laundry facilities, showers, a kitchen, television, etc.

The camp already uses a few solar panels, but they aren’t enough. To close the gap the camp is currently using a diesel-powered generator. There are a couple diesel tankers parked nearby. I am amazed they can get the tankers up that bouncy mountain road. Anyway, the camp wants to stop relying on the diesel generator, and is planning to boost solar usage instead. Melih and his colleagues were there to inspect the site and take some measurements.

Below are some photos I took during the outing…

If you are viewing this on a iPhone, you may not be able to see the photo slideshow. Here is a link to the original photos.

Here is a video of the ride back down from the camp…