Sister Cities Park new wave pool powered by solar energy

Philadelphia--The question was never should a wave pool be installed in Sister Cities Park. The question has long been how to sustainably power a wave pool once it was installed? The answer: the sun. Over the spring, much of the shallow children's pond adjacent to the park's green-roof capped cafe was replaced with a state-of-the-art Olympic 1000 wave pool. Solar panels affixed to nearby streetlights and on the south-facing facade of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul provide just over 85 percent of the needed electricity for the pumps and high pressure water jets. "There are still a few kinks to work out," said Jeff Sillenger, a Brotherly Love Parks and Recreation official. "Like, when a cloud passes overhead a boogie boarder can become stranded in the pool for a minute or so. There's no doubt that our battery backup system needs some refining." The park, just east of Logan Circle on 18th St., which saw huge crowds before the tide came in, has been booming since the installation and is expected to only grow more popular over the hot summer months. "The wave pool is great," said Becky Donald, 31, a resident of Fairmount, standing with her two young daughters who could not take their eyes of the park's newest addition. "But, even greater is the harnessing of the sun. Our family calls the wave pool the Sun-ami."