Day 24: The last day

The turbine standing proud - and more importantly, spinning!

Well today we had a very late start, all a little tired from the big day (and night) yesterday. Then we went down to the install site to check if everything was still working! Thankfully it was, and it was really nice to see that family had painted the room where we had put the light. Although it seems like a tiny change, it felt much more than that and brought home to us the difference that a light can make in peoples lives. And although we were a little disappointed to only get one turbine installed it was nice to know that we had helped WindAid (even if only a little) in their aim at bringing cheap clean energy to the people of Peru.

 The next day the others were heading down to Cuzco and Machu Picchu, while I was taking a bus over the mountains towards the jungle to give Thida a surprise visit in Tarapoto. We decided to round off the program by sitting down to watch The Age of Stupid, another hard hitting documentary that gave a reminder of the other side of why WindAid and many other around the world are trying to encourage a movement towards using clean, safe and reliable forms of energy production.

Day 23: Install Day

Ready to go.

Today was install day!! At the workshop we gave all the electronics (break, dump load, control system and all) a last test then packed everything into the car, along with a few too many people, and drove tot he site. Here we were joined by the university students, some of their lecturers and other WindAid employees who came down to observed the installation process.

Firstly we mounted the turbine on the stand with the bearing, then put it up on the water tower. Afterwards followed a lengthy process of trying to align the bamboo pole with the vertical, which proved difficult with a bamboo pole with several kinks in it!.

Mounting the stand.

Mounting the pole.

After an hour or so we brought the whole thing down and had a snack and a drink that the family had kindly provided. We discovered that the pole connecting the bamboo pole and the stand had been mounted backwards so we smashed off the nut, washed the bearing and tried again. This proved more fruitful and we managed to get the turbine spinning properly. After a late lunch we headed back to sort the electronics while Michael was in the city running some errands. After completing the finishing touches and getting some pictures with a very happy family who will have a light in their room for the first time tonight we had time to think about what we had achieved while watching the waves by the sea.

I didn't envy them holding that.

After dinner we headed back to the workshop for about 9pm where we planned to try and get another turbine ready for tomorrow*, however once we got there and saw that the amount of work required didn't really make another install a reality, we decided to quit while we were ahead and end our time in Trujillo on a high, and went back to the house to celebrate what we HAD achieved in our few short weeks with WindAid.

Looking good.

Lining up the pole

Not much we can do but give directions.

Tico talking with the our spectator.

*tommorow being the last day we would all be in Trujillo

Day 22: Almost There

The Canadian spray-paint massacre.

Today was very exciting, in the morning we went down to Buenos Aires where we are going to install one of the turbines for use by one of the local farmers. The location was chosen for this install mainly for convenience as it is right on top of the old WindAid testing ground, so it will be easy to check up on*. Also WindAid has good relations with the the farmers in question so it will be nice to put the turbine here and hopefully make a small difference in their lives.

Trevor still Soldering

As the farm already has a wind wheel used for gathering water out the well, we decided that the best course of action will be to mount our turbine on top of the existing tower. Back at the workshop we tried to get everything else finished and gather together what we would need tomorrow for the install. We tested the electronics and it turned out that we had wired it up slightly wrong, although this was relatively easy to fix; gave everything a last coat of paint; made a wind vein for the turbine; figured out how to mount the stand onto a bamboo tower; and, just about had time to give the whole thing a test!**

Trevor and Nino Wiring up the control system.

Letting the Wind do it's job.

Letting the paint work dry.

What a difference some white paint makes!

Micheal checking  the free advertising.

Our finished control box.

All we've got to do now is put her up!

*especially useful as this will be the first install of a turbine this size. 
**A test which it passed, thank god!

Day 21: Lonely nights in the desert.

Testing.

The return of Michael and David* last night gave us a boost resulting in quite a productive day. We a first coat of paint on the wings, Trevor got the wiring as far as he could until we get a few spare parts, and Dan finished the majority of the welding. After Dan's mounts were finished they were taken into Trujillo to be sandblasted and then given a zinc coating to prevent corrosion. In the afternoon we managed to putty up the blades to give them a smooth finish and then get a white coat of paint on everything.

Trevor before the sun went down.

Trevor long after...

Working late as usual!

The dump-load.

Trevor's boards

In the evening Dan had arranged for him, Trevor and Nino to meet up for dinner with a couple of the volunteers with Hayleys organisation, however due to our pushing to get work done they were running quite late by the time we got back to the house. After a while I decided to walk down to the restaurant to meet them for a drink but when I got there, there was no sign or the boys, just 2 hungry girls who thought they had been stood up. Eventually the boys turned up explaining that they had got a taxi but the driver didn't realise the place was just down the road and took them on an unintentional tour of the city! After we all had a good laugh at the boys and their story, Dan lived up to the stereotype of Canadians being the nicest people you can meet and treated us all to a lovely steak dinner.

The first "control box".

The only other point of interest in the day was me absent mindedly deciding it would be a great idea to stack 2 heavy magnetic plates** on top of one another, getting the tips of three of my fingers trapped in the process. Thanks to the efforts of the others, the plates were eventually pulled apart and my fingers freed with no lasting damage. Although they did stay very flat for a few hours...









*I should probably stop referring to him as "that man from the Ashden Awards"
**The stator

Day 20: Building Controls

Trevor and Nino sanding the blades

As Micheal was out visiting a previous install with the assessor from the Ashton Awards, we took a taxi in with Tico where our first task was to give the blades another fine sand down so they would be ready for painting - meanwhile Dan continued with his welding.

A mess of a stator

Trevor making circuit boards

Another way in which WindAid is reaching out to the local community is by opening its doors to students at the local university. Having chatted with a number of the students it turned out that they are using the WindAid workshop to build a wind turbine for a university project. As their design is slightly different to ours it has been very interesting and instructive to discuss the different designs and troubleshoot any issues together*.

Daniel's prototype

This morning one of the students, Daniel gave Trevor and I a quick lesson in building the circuit board in the electronic control system. After lunch, and a quick trip to the shop to gather supplies in anticipation of a late night, we went back to try and build some of the circuit boards. It turns out that Trevor has much more skill in this area than I do, so I just stuck to taking pictures and making notes, and then helped the others to finish sanding the blades and putty up some holes in the stator.

Lets get soldering!

*Usually through Tico as a translator. Although it has to be said their efforts at explaining difficult concepts in English are far superior to our efforts at basic Spanish!

Day 19: Chan Chan

Last night, as a reward for our hard days work we headed down to Huanchaco to meet up with some of  Greg's friend's in the PeaceCorp, which inevitably resulted in a late start. After which we took the opurtunity of some free time to head over to Chan Chan, the largest pre-Columbian city in South America. Despite being way over 1000 years old, parts of the ruins are incredibly well preserved. It's just another example of the huge number of civilizations that have thrived throughout the ages in Peru, Chan Chan especially, being a prime example of the lengths people can go to to live in some very difficult environments.

 After our journey into the past, we headed a few miles down the road back to Huanchaco, where, after some lunch we hit the beach where Nino and Dan tried to catch some waves on traditional reed fishing boats.
 

Day 18: Ashden Awards

A complete control board.

Daniel and Trevor building circuit boards

Admiring the progress of the blades

Nino spinning coils

Another possible form of investment arrived this morning in the form of a man from the Ashden Awards. This meant that we all donned our best WndAid Shirts and hats and got down to the workshop to get buzy, even though it's a Saturday! Our main achievement of the day was to trim and sand another 2 blades for replacement on the 2.5kW turbine which was good as we got to use lots of loud tools to impress the man from Ashden!

Micheal giving a tour.

Day 17: Working Life in Peru

First order of business today was to wire up a 3rd stator and set it in resin. Afterwards we tested one of the stands that Dan  had finished welding by mounting a generator (stator and rotor together), spinning as fast as we could and measuring the Voltage output - I think record was about 20V, not bad. After Spanish class we got back to the house to a hell of a story from Michael.

After giving the potential investors an idea of the set-up in Trujillo he headed out to on of WindAid's installations up in the mountains, however half way there the car broke down. After getting muddy and wet trying to fix it they called for someone to come and pick them up. They promptly arrived at in the middle of the night and after being unable to fix the car they towed it through the mountains to the site, where they spent the next morning fitting the parts needed allowing Michael to drive straight back home!

 I think this story highlights 2 things about life in Peru, firstly you can never expect to stick to a plan, especially if that plan involves long drives on bad roads up into the mountains. Also, the fact that the mechanics were prepared to drive all the way out to the car and then tow it all through the night up said windy mountain roads shows just how kind and generous Peruvians are.

Day 16: Trial and Error

Adding more resin to the mold.

We got to the workshop this morning to discover that a lot of resin had leaked out of the stator we left to set before leaving yesterday, and what resin was left hadn't set properly - largely due to our in-exact mixing of the chemicals to make the resin. So we mixed up a new batch of resin, filled up the mold and set it out in the sun to dry - any hopefully not leak!

The finished article.

The fact that there was a leak means that we will have to add some more screws/clamps to hopefully get a tighter fit before we attempt to set another stator.

This constant process of improving on the design and implementation at each stage is really evident here at WindAid, especially with the new smaller turbines, where Michael is trying to drive costs down to a bare minimum and create a build process that can be easily replicated any where in the world.

Day 15:Popping the Stator

Making Stators

Too many cooks...

Standing the Mold so hopefully the resin won't leak

We took a couple of taxi's in today as Michael was busy giving a presentation to a couple of potential investors who are interested in investing in projects that educate young people about renewable energy - something I know that WindAid is keen on and has done in the past through outreach to schools.

Tico admiring our work.

The finished article.

The first order of business was to pop out the stator which was looking great and free of leaks, and then  start the process of building a new one. Then we each got on with various little tasks around the workshop making sure we were nice and busy for when Michael gave the potential investors a tour! After another Spanish class in the afternoon we sat around and watch a documentary called "Fuel" which was very interesting and provided a global perspective of the issues that projects such as
WindAid are trying to address.

Dan's Stands!

The blades are nearly there.