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Bringing Light to the Edge of the World: blueEnergy's Adventures Building Micro Wind Turbines on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. Background. Products and Services. Nuts and Bolts of the Turbine. A Look at a Typical System. Customers. Get Involved and Contact. Where?. Background.

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  1. Bringing Light to the Edge of the World: blueEnergy's Adventures Building Micro Wind Turbines on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua

  2. Background Products and Services Nuts and Bolts of the Turbine A Look at a Typical System Customers Get Involved and Contact

  3. Where?

  4. Background • What is blueEnergy and what does it do? • Family history in Nicaragua • Interest in wind power • blueEnergy the idea: MIT Development Entrepreneurship class • Birth of blueEnergy: a 501(c)3 public charity with a twist • Where we stand today • Where we are headed

  5. The blueEnergy Approach • Focus on building lasting, local solution: • Use appropriate technology • Build local capacity • Long-term commitment • Understanding and respect for local way of life • blueEnergy’s systems are implemented using a variety of models, each of which can be characterized along the following dimensions: Location (urban, semi-urban, rural), constituency served (private, public), ownership (blueEnergy, private, public), management/operation (blueEnergy, private, public), and physical configuration (battery charging station, fixed battery bank, dual-use).

  6. The blueEnergy Turbine • Base design from Hugh Piggott of Scoraig Wind Electric; school of “heavy metal” • Designed from the ground up for ease of construction, robustness and optimized for energy production in low winds • Axial-flux alternator vs. more common radial-flux designs • Ease of construction -> ease of maintenance -> low-cost over lifetime

  7. Background Products and Services Nuts and Bolts of the Turbine A Look at a Typical System Customers Get Involved and Contact

  8. blueEnergy Products

  9. blueEnergy Services

  10. Key Points • Isolation: A brief history of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua • blueEnergy is nonprofit with a focus on sustainability not on maximizing sales • On a technical note: The difference between power (W or kW) and energy (Wh or kWh): • Power: The rate of doing some useful work. It is an instantaneous measurement; by analogy, can be thought of as water flow rate into a storage tank. • Energy: The amount of power expended (or generated) over a period of time, i.e Energy = Power x Time; by analogy, can be thought of as amount of water stored given a specific flow rate over a specified time period.

  11. Background Products and Services Nuts and Bolts of the Turbine A Look at a Typical System Customers Get Involved and Contact

  12. The Nuts & Bolts of the Wind Turbine Blade Rotor

  13. The Nuts & Bolts of the Wind Turbine Alternator

  14. The Nuts & Bolts of the Wind Turbine Body and Tail

  15. The Nuts & Bolts of the Wind Turbine Tower

  16. Background Products and Services Nuts and Bolts of the Turbine A Look at a Typical System Customers Get Involved and Contact

  17. A Typical blueEnergy System

  18. A Typical blueEnergy System Wind Turbine and Tower • 12 ft diameter rotor (6 ft blades), 3-phase, 24 V wind turbine • 60 - 100 ft tilt-up tower; lattice towers only used in cases where space is limited because of high cost • Anchors for guy wires are a mix of rebar mesh, metal bar, concrete and dirt and are generally 6 ft deep, 2 ft across, 4 ft wide

  19. A Typical blueEnergy System Power Center • System regulation, energy storage and energy conversion • Community charging station vs. fixed battery bank • PV modules generally integrated into power center structure

  20. A Typical blueEnergy System Power Center • Charge controller - BRAIN • Batteries - HEART • Breakers and dump load - SECURITY

  21. A Typical blueEnergy System Household • Not physically tied to power center due to cost of distribution lines over great distances • Home electrification kits available from blueEnergy through micro-loan program in partnership with ADEPHCA • Users carry batteries to charging station and charge them for a fee

  22. A Typical Energy System: Cost Misc. Parts Installation Transport Service TOTAL

  23. A Typical Energy System: Cost Comparison

  24. A Typical Energy System: Power Curve

  25. A Typical Energy System: Wind Resource • Monthly variations: August, September, November are low months; December, January, February are high months • Site variations: Wind resource is highly site-dependent; a study should be performed at each site where a considerable energy system investment is to be made • Power in wind is related to cube of wind speed => doubling of wind speed means eight times the available power

  26. Energy Production for blueEnergy 12 ft Turbine (@ 60 ft height) - February 2 to February 23, 2007 NOTE: Data was not collected on February 5, 12, 18, 19 A Typical Energy System: Energy Production • February is an above average wind month • Average per day turbine production over the year: • ~3,200 Wh • 100 W solar panel will add ~ 350 Wh per day Average total daily energy production of 3,550 kWh

  27. A Typical Energy System: Energy Use • As shown in the previous slide, a typical system produces 3,550 watt-hours of energy per day on average. • Assuming a 90% Charge/Discharge Efficiency, What Can You Do With 3,195 watt-hours of Energy? • You could run a light (15 W) or a radio (15 W) for 213 hours • You could run a light (15 W) and a radio (15 W) or a small • high-efficiency refrigerator (30 W) for 106 hours • You could run a laptop (40 W) or a small television (40 W) for • 80 hours • You could run 3 lights (45 W), a radio (15 W), a laptop (40 • W) and a small high-efficiency freezer (30 W) for 24 hours - • i.e. all day

  28. Background Products and Services Nuts and Bolts of the Turbine A Look at a Typical System Customers Get Involved and Contact

  29. Potential Customers • Rural communities beyond the reach of the electrical grid and semi-urban communities with unreliable electrical grid • Development organizations that need energy for their projects but don’t have expertise or capacity in this area: FISE, FADCANIC, Catholic Church • Health organizations that need energy for their rural health clinics but have no expertise or capacity in this area: WHO / OPS, MINSA • Small business owners that require backup or primary power • Individuals

  30. Current Project Sites

  31. Background Products and Services Nuts and Bolts of the Turbine A Look at a Typical System Customers Get Involved and Contact

  32. Volunteer (http://www.blueenergygroup.org/MainPages/GetInvolved.html) Tell Your Friends, Family, and Colleagues About blueEnergy Donate (http://www.blueenergygroup.org/MainPages/Donate.html) Attend a Turbine Building Workshop (http://www.scoraigwind.com) Get Involved

  33. Contact Us Special thanks to Steve Weis and Google for inviting me here today For more information and to help support our important work, please visit: www.blueenergygroup.org Mathias Craig, Executive Director San Francisco, California, United States mathias.craig@blueenergygroup.org Tel: +1 (202) 744 - 5840 Fax: +1 (801) 730 - 9576 Watch for us on CNN Heroes airing in mid-July!

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