2008-2009
Jared Alvord, April
Orleans, Heidi Caldwell, Thomas, Babacar Diop
Introduction
The Wind group worked in the rural village of Grand
Fond and was responsible for dong a complete load analysis of the Grand Fond
Primary School and completing the installation of a 40 ft. wind measurement
tower using NRG equipment.
Main Goals:
-Complete an accurate load analysis of the Grand Fond Primary School
-Install a 40 ft. wind measurement tower using NRG equipment
Load Calculations
Our work at The Grand
Fond Elementary School started with a load calculation in order to properly
assess the schools needs for the wind turbine that will be installed in the
future. The school consists of 6
classrooms, a computer lab, a teacher’s lounge, the principles office, and a
library. Students are in the school
roughly from 9 am to 2 pm five days a week.
The computer lab has been in use during school; however the exact hours
of use varies depending on the classes that day. The computer lab is also open to the public
after school, so we calculated the maximum possible usage in our calculations
assuming that computers would stay on until 8pm when the public could no longer
be using the computers. This may seem
excessive but it was difficult to determine the exact usage of the computers
because it depends on how often people come to use the lab. With our calculations, we determined the
maximum KWH usage per month to be 636, and looking at the electric bills from
the past 5 years, the actual greatest KWH usage was 498. This load calculation was successful in that
we were able to get close to the maximum usage level, we did go over, however
that was expected because we assumed the maximum usage of computers and the
equipment in the computer room, and included lights that at the time did not
have bulbs in place.
One thing should be addressed when the time comes
to size the system; the inverter may need to be able to handle turning all of
the computers on at once, because it is at start up when the computers are at
their surge wattage. We felt that having
the children wait patiently to turn each computer on individually is
unrealistic, however this problem could be resolved by installing a switch
similar to the one at the Grand Fond Preschool, allowing them to use power from
the grid to get the computers started, then once they are all going, switch
back to the wind turbine.
Tower/Installation
The most challenging part
of our project was figuring up how to get the sensors 10 M above the highest
point in the vicinity of the
Our first challenge was figuring out where the
tower should be erected. Originally we had been planning on putting the tower
on top of the roof, so that the children around the school would not have such
an easy time playing on it. However while designing a tower to go on the roof
we realized that we did not have the proper materials, nor a proper roof to
hold the significant amount of pressure. Our fall back plan was to put the
tower on top of a cement pad in the back of the building, and use the overhang
of the roof for stability.
After determining where the tower would go we had
to figure out how to keep it stable, upright, and removable so that more
equipment can be added in the future. We decided that the base needed to be
made of cement with bolts sunk into it. This base kept the tower from sinking
into the ground, and the bolts gave us a way to attach and detach the tower. To
keep the tower stable we used three ½ inch guide wires attached three quarters
of the way up the pole. Two of the guide wires were bolted into the roof of the
bathroom, and the third was bolted into another cement pad.
Once we had the tower all
set up on the ground with the sensors attached, we used the guide wires and
lots of muscle power to upright the tower and put it in place. The righting of
the tower went smother than any of us would have expected, partially due to
some of the innovations that Felix, one of the locals, helped us with. Once the
tower was in place and bolted down, we attached the last of the equipment and
left it for Jem to program.
Conclusion
After a very hard week of scouting for suitable
materials in
In reflection, it is easy to see that after many
hurdles, the success of this project was based on our group being able to work
together. Each member applied their
individual expertise to different phases of the process, and in the end, we are
proud to say that we organized, planned, designed, acquired the materials,
constructed the tower, and completed this project all with our own 10
hands. It was an incredible experience,
one that built in us all real hands on experience in renewable energy systems
as well as approaches to international development and project planning. And although the
And of course nothing would have been possible
without this group’s project partners and allies:
Ø
The
Sustainable Living Initiative Centre (SLIC)
Ø
Cable
& Wireless
Ø
NRG
Systems
Ø
Jem
Winston
Ø
Professor
Gary Flomenhoft
Ø
Steve
Addisson
Ø
The
members of other renewable energy groups that threw some time in
Ø
The
Mighty Felix
Ø
Glen,
Javon, Jared, and all the other students at Grand Fond who helped us out.
Ø
Ø
Choooombay
Thanks
The Wind
Group
Babacar
Diop
Community and
International Development ‘09
April
Orleans
Community and
International Development ‘09
Thomas
Angeley
Business Administration
‘10
Jared
Alvord
Environmental Studies ‘10
Heidi
Caldwell
Political Science ‘09