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• Update: June 2005
• Update: February 2005
• Update: January 2005
• Update: November 2004
• Update: October 2004
• Update: August 2004
• Update: July 2004
• Update: June 2004
• Update: April 2004
• Update: August 2003

Update: June 2005


March-May 2005 -- Very Busy Times

It has been a while since we issued our last update, but that is good news because it means we have been busy. Rather than wait for all of the translation work to be done, we are sending out this English version report first and will update the Spanish and French sections when we find the time. Apologies to our Spanish and French readers for these delays...

Micro-loans for home energy systems
blueEnergy has recently partnered with ADEPHCA (Association for the Development and Human Promotion of the Atlantic Coast), a Nicaraguan micro-credit organization, to provide small loans to families to purchase home electricity systems. The basic systems are comprised of a deep-cycle battery, wiring, and a fluorescent light and cost around $150. The systems are designed for use in rural homes, which usually consist of one room, and ADEPHCA will finance the loans on 12 to 18 month cycles, depending on individual circumstances. Users will recharge their batteries at communal hybrid wind-solar charging stations, built and installed by blueEnergy and its partners. blueEnergy and ADEPHCA have agreed to work together to provide and administer four loans in the community of Punta de Aguila as a pilot test for the partnership. Once we have confirmed the viability of the program, we hope to expand the program up and down the Caribbean Coast.

Work at Punta de Aguila
blueEnergy spent a considerable portion of April working in the community of Punta de Aguila, revamping the energy system installation. Over a period of four trips, the team completely removed the existing turbine and tower and replaced it with a newer model. The old turbine was returned to Bluefields for upgrading and will be reinstalled at a later date. The new installation represents a significant improvement over the system that was installed last August; the tower height has been upgraded from 40 ft to 60 ft, the tower anchors have been enlarged from 3 ft to 6 ft, the anchor holes have been deepened from 3 ft to 6 ft, and the power house has been greatly enlarged and fitted with digital output meters, a break switch, and circuit breaker.

The new energy system is currently powering a community battery charging station where public institutions, such as the school, can charge batteries for free, and private individuals can charge batteries for a small fee. blueEnergy installed two fluorescent lights in the school, which doubles as a community center. Kids use this space to read, draw, and practice arithmetic in the evenings. On one trip in April we witnessed a visiting delegation from the ministry of health using the lights to prepare their medicines for a vaccination program.

Once the new installation was completed, blueEnergy held several training sessions with potential local system operators. The training covered record keeping, battery maintenance, and electric connections. The training sessions are part of blueEnergy’s ongoing initiative to provide on-site training to raise the level of community participation in, and understanding of, the energy systems. blueEnergy firmly believes that by introducing this new technology and associated concepts into the community, it has a social responsibility to reach out and find and/or help create common cultural ground with the local people. We have asked them to make an effort to reach over and understand our work and in exchange, we must do the same. In this vein, blueEnergy worked with a team of linguists and a large portion of the local community to develop vocabulary in the Rama language that can be used to describe the energy system and its related components and activities. With this linguistic tool we hope to help place this technology within their cultural context, thereby making it more accessible and understandable. Examples of this Rama language initiative can be found here.

Pictures of the Punta de Aguila trips

Otto García Visit
blueEnergy was honored to host Otto García of the Energy and Environment Partnership (ALIANZA) in Bluefields at the end of April. Mr. García is the regional coordinator of the partnership, which is a multinational colloborative effort between Finland and Central America to promote renewable energy and mitigate climate change in that region. The Alianza is blueEnergy’s largest source of financial support and we were pleased to have the opportunity to show Mr. García our project first-hand. During his brief stay we toured our facilities in Bluefields and made an overnight excursion to Punta de Aguila, where he was able to oversee the completion of our new installation.

MIT: Wind Tunnel Tests and Public Lecture
In early May, Mathias Craig and Darin Bird of blueEnergy were invited to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to give a public lecture on blueEnergy’s work and to test a turbine in the world-famous Wright Brothers wind tunnel. The invitation was an honor for us and had added significance because MIT was the birthplace of blueEnergy.

The 4 ft diameter machine we tested was much smaller than what blueEnergy makes in Nicaragua but we decided to use it because our machine would not fit in the tunnel. The machine tested was a Hugh Piggott design and on loan from Ian Woofenden of Solar Energy International and Hugh himself. Dick Perdichizzi, the operator of the wind tunnel, was very generous with his time and helped us set up the turbine for testing.

The tunnel work was quite fun and the results are summarized in the following excel file here. We produced power curves under two scenarios: one with the tail clamped to prevent furling, and one with the tail free to pivot. In both cases we took measurements as the turbine was speeding up and as it was slowing down because of the turbine’s differing behaviors in these two approaches.

The public lecture was attended by about 50 people and was dedicated to the late Dr. Ken Hale, friend and distinguished MIT linguist.

We would like to thank Chris Sequeira for organizing the entire event; Hugh Piggott for his turbine design work and advice; Ian Woofenden for loaning us the turbine to test; Dick Perdichizzi for all of his patience and help with the wind tunnel test.

Thanks also to all the student groups that made our visit possible: MIT Student Pugwash, Students for Global Sustainability, Design that Matters, MIT Energy Club, AID-MIT, Technology and Policy Student Society, Public Service Center, Edgerton Center, the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and the Large Event Fund.

Pictures of the MIT visit

Additional pictures of blueEnergy’s visit to MIT can be found on Chris' website

blueEnergy and INATEC
blueEnergy’s flagship installation is at its shop location on the INATEC campus in Bluefields. This turbine produces energy that is used regularly for lighting and radio in the shop. But on several occasions, blueEnergy has provided electricity to special school events during city-wide blackouts (which are fairly common). In one instance a cable was run from the blueEnergy shop to the auditorium where the electricity was used to power the DJ equipment and lights for the school prom. In other instance a cable was run to power microphones and loudspeaker equipment for a school presentation to a visiting Japanese delegation.

blueEnergy benefits tremendously from being located on the INATEC campus in terms of shop space, shared technical expertise, and tool access, and all efforts to give back to the community are made. To give back, blueEnergy provides training to interested students, provides electricity as noted above, and helps INATEC maintain its tools and vehicle fleet by sponsoring key repair work. This symbiotic relationship is clearly beneficial to all, and represents the best of what a development initiative such as ours can hope to achieve.

Report on Renewable Energy in Nicaragua
GTZ, a German-based organization dedicated to international cooperation and sustainable development, recently issued a report on the current state, and potential of, renewable energy in Nicaragua. The report, written in Spanish, cites blueEnergy’s wind resource study on the Caribbean Coast and praises blueEnergy as one of the country’s biggest investors in small-scale wind energy. You can view the report here

Personnel Notes
blueEnergy was lucky to have been joined by two new volunteers in April: Zayra Romo and Kenry Martin. Zayra is from Mexico City and is a power systems engineer. She has been working on the electrical components of our installations and has been leading the market study. Kenry is from a community up the coast from Bluefields called La Barra. He received a scholarship from Peace and Hope and is studying at INATEC and helping blueEnergy in the shop and on remote installations. We are very grateful for their help.

Also returning to blueEnergy in May was Amos Elias. Amos is blueEnergy’s longest-serving volunteer and his contributions to the project have been tremendous. We look forward to hosting him again this Fall.

The blueEnergy team has also acquired a new local member, Norman Gutierrez. A Bluefields resident, Norman is putting in considerable hours in the shop and on remote community installations.

Tidbits
ER&DE

blueEnergy’s French counterpart, ER&DE (Energies Renouvelables et Développement Equitable, or Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development) is now officially up and running. The organization is a membership association and was founded to support the activities of blueEnergy by helping French volunteers get to Nicaragua, accepting private donations in France, and seeking European Union funding. Though ER&DE was started long after blueEnergy, the French government moved swiftly in December 2004 and granted it tax-exempt status. If you reside in France and are considering making a donation to blueEnergy, we encourage you to consider donating to ER&DE instead, in order to make your donation deductible in France. For more information please visit ER&DE here

Tax-exempt Status (501(c)(3))

We are sorry to report that the Internal Revenue Service has not yet ruled on our application for tax exemption. According to their own guidelines, they should have responded months ago. blueEnergy is actively engaged in this process and remains optimistic that a favorable ruling will eventually be reached. We will certainly post an update as soon as a decision is made.

Country Fair 2005

blueEnergy will once again have a booth in Energy Park at the Oregon Country Fair this year. The festival is located near Veneta, Oregon, and held July 8th to 10th. blueEnergy will have a turbine on display, discuss turbine construction, and will present an interactive demonstration on blade carving.

Lâl Marandin's Thesis

Lâl Marandin’s thesis on the launching of the blueEnergy project in Nicaragua and on a preliminary assessment of the wind resource in Bluefields is now available for download here. It is in French.

French Updates to "Resources" Page

The "Resources" page in the French version of the website has recently been expanded. It now includes links to new pages on the technology used in the blueEnergy project, more information for volunteers, and a short history of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua.
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Update: February 2005


February 2005 -- Costa Rica Workshop and Web Additions

Costa Rica Workshop

blueEnergy sent a team to Costa Rica from February 20th to 27th to receive training on the construction of a 12 ft diameter model of the Piggott turbine. The workshop took place on the Durika preserve, was organized by Solar Energy International, and was lead by Hugh Piggott himself. Representing blueEnergy were Ismael Castillo (from Bluefields, Nicaragua), Norman Gutierrez (also from Bluefields, Nicaragua), Amos Elias, Jim Hogue, and Jeff Homan. Mathias Craig was able to attend the last day and a half of the workshop.

The goal of the workshop was to build a 12 ft diameter turbine to provide supplemental electricity to the community living at Durika. The community already had some distributed solar generation and a 14 kW hydro turbine, so the wind turbine was not a necessity and more of just an interest. The attendees hailed from throughout the Americas and brought with them a diverse set of skills and backgrounds. Some were there to learn in the hopes of replicating the turbine construction process at a project level outside the workshop. One such group in attendance (besides ourselves) was from ICE, the Costa Rican electricity and telecommunications utility. They were very interested in the concept of small turbine manufacturing for electricity generation in remote indigenous communities.

blueEnergy is interested in the 12 ft diameter turbine model for increased energy production at its battery charging installations. Each installation services a different energy demand and operates under different environmental conditions, and in certain cases it makes sense to use a larger turbine once a sizeable investment has already been made in the support structure (i.e. tower, foundation, wires, and anchors). blueEnergy is working to expand its abilities so that it can produce 8, 10, and 12 ft diameter turbines to match the specific output needs and environmental conditions of each installation.

New Website Material

blueEnergy has added some new sections to its website that provide more information on volunteering, the technology used in the project, and the history and people of the Caribbean Coast. These sections have been added under the "Resources" page and can be viewed by going to here. The French and Spanish versions of these new sections are in the works but have not yet been completed.

Pictures from the workshop
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Update: January 2005


November/December 2004 -- French Workshop, Rama Workshop, and Other News

We at blueEnergy would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and would like to again thank those who supported us in 2004. The last few months have been an extremely busy time for us as our project has gained momentum and begun to attract outside attention. We hope the following brief accounts will shed some light on our recent activities.

From November 15th – 20th Guillaume Craig, blueEnergy’s newest team member, attended a wind turbine building workshop taught by Hugh Piggott, the originator of the design used by blueEnergy. The workshop was held in Limoux, France, and was hosted by Krug S.A.R.L and CUE.4. During the six days of activities the participants built two wind turbines – one with a 2.5 meter diameter rotor and one with a 3 meter diameter rotor - and attended theoretical discussions on various wind power topics.

On December 2nd blueEnergy’s New York office submitted an application for recognition of federal tax-exemption. blueEnergy filed for recognition as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and expects a ruling from the IRS within 120 days. If a favorable ruling is received (and we expect that it will be), all donations made to blueEnergy after November 19th, 2003 will be retroactively tax-deductible.

In October blueEnergy had submitted a grant application to the Energy and Environment Partnership with Central America (ALIANZA), a Finnish funded group that promotes the use of renewable energy technologies in Central America. In mid-December blueEnergy’s pilot project proposal for 46,800 EUR (~$61,000) was officially accepted. This grant represent about a quarter of the actual anticipated pilot project costs and is a significant investment.

From November 29th to December 17th, blueEnergy conducted its first Rama community wind power workshop in Bluefields, Nicaragua. The blueEnergy regulars were joined by volunteers Mark Kinsey, Amos Elias, and Stacey McKinney.

The 3-week workshop was focused on involving Ramas from the communities of Rama Cay and Punta de Aguila in the manufacturing of their own energy systems. Attending the workshop were 4 Ramas from Rama Cay (Martha Thomas, Ventura Daniels, Jeffrey McCrea, and Lorenzo Martinez) and 2 from Punta de Aguila (Pedro McCrea and Pedrito McCrea), along with 2 members of the Nicaraguan solar power organization Grupo Fenix (Ain Uriel Salinas Espinoza and Alexis Jose Martinez Tercero) and 4 members of the Bluefields university URACCAN (Henry Thyne, Jesús Salgado, Omar Ruíz, and Bayardo Simons). All Rama participants received a stipend from blueEnergy and were provided food and accommodation.

During the first week the group manufactured an 8 ft. diameter, 24 volt turbine. During the second week the group built a 60 ft., 4 in. diameter tower and installed it on the INATEC campus. Digging for the tower’s foundation and guy wire anchors was particularly strenuous in rainy conditions. The third week was more of a classroom environment and was spent discussing system management and battery and turbine maintenance.

On the staff front, Lâl Marandin, blueEnergy’s Associate Director, returned to France in December (as planned) and is no longer involved in day-to-day Nicaraguan operations. He is leaving the position of Associate Director but is staying on as a member of the Board of Directors and is actively involved in maintaining blueEnergy’s far-flung network, writing grant applications, and exploring for European funds. His contributions to starting blueEnergy in Nicaragua were immense and his daily presence will be missed.

Hugh Piggott's pictures of the French workshop
Pictures of the Rama workshop
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Update: November 2004


October 2004 -- Tower and Installation Workshop

From October 18 to October 23, two members of the blueEnergy team (Lâl Marandin and Ismael Castillo) attended a workshop on tower construction and installation on Guemes Island in the state of Washington. The workshop was led by Mick Sagrillo, an expert of small wind power in North America who has performed over 700 installations over the last 30 years and was organized by Ian Woofenden, of SEI (Solar Energy International). The workshop had both theoretical and practical components and gave the blueEnergy team an opportunity to learn more about tower installation techniques and safety.

The goal for the week was to assemble and install a 145’ free standing tower. While the tower was designed to support a multi-kilowatt turbine and solar panels, the initial phase called for installing a 1KW African Windpower 3.6m turbine (designed by Hugh Piggott). The tower was to be located on the eastern side of the island, among the trees and on top of a cliff. The first three days were spent building the structure and the electrical infrastructure. On the fourth day, a crane was brought to the site to lift the three different sections of the tower and sit them into place. The last two days, the crew worked at connecting the different components.

The workshop had approximately 20 participants, including Amos Elias and Stacey McKinney who decided to join blueEnergy as volunteers in Nicaragua. blueEnergy’s team had met Amos during the spring of 2004, at the Hugh Piggott’s workshop also hosted by SEI.

The workshop was a thrilling experience for Ismael Castillo, blueEnergy’s shop director in Bluefields (Nicaragua) who was traveling to the United States for the first time.

Pictures from the workshop
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Update: October 2004


September/October 2004 -- Installations and Conference
PUNTA DE AGUILA INSTALLATION
On September 29th blueEnergy completed its first wind turbine installation in an isolated community. The installation was made in Punta de Aguila, a Rama Indian village about three hours south of Bluefields. The battery charging system is a hybrid and includes a small solar panel produced by Grupo Fenix in Managua. This solar panel helps supplement the wind energy production, which is typically at its annual low during the months of September and October.


INATEC INSTALLATION
blueEnergy has also completed the electrical system installation at its workshop on the INATEC campus in Bluefields. The electricity generated by the turbine on the hill above the shop is now being used for shop lighting, a radio, and to charge blueEnergy’s cordless power tools.

Pictures from Nicaragua, September, 2004

Videos from Nicaragua, September, 2004


CENTRAL AMERICAN WINDPOWER FORUM
From October 6th – 8th blueEnergy attended a Central American windpower forum in San José, Costa Rica. The forum was organized by the Finnish led Energy and Environment Partnership with Central America (EEP). This partnership, also referred to as the Alianza, works to support projects in the Central American region that have a positive impact on renewable energy production. Among the participants were representatives of the Alianza, the Finnish government, the Costa Rican government, the Worldwatch Institute, the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and various non-government organizations and private enterprises.

blueEnergy has submitted a proposal for funding to the Alianza and was fortunate to receive an invitation to the forum to present its pilot project. Representing blueEnergy were Pedro McCrea, Vice President of the Rama community at Punta de Aguila, Prof. Ismael Castillo Herrera, blueEnergy’s Bluefields shop supervisor, Lâl Marandin, Associate Director of blueEnergy, and Mathias Craig, Executive Director of blueEnergy. The team made a twenty-minute presentation, which was very well received by the forum’s attendees ( powerpoint - 32.8 MB | video - 24.4 MB).

The forum also included a tour of the Tejona Wind Project, a government owned wind farm in northwest Costa Rica. The 20 MW wind farm is made up of 30 660 KW Vestas turbines and has been fully operational since August 2002.

Pictures from Costa Rica, October, 2004

Videos from Costa Rica, October, 2004
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Update: August 2004


July/August 2004 -- Major Progress in Nicaragua
THE SUMMER TEAM

top: Eva Lafuente, Marc Leandri, Kirsty King
bottom: Lâl Marandin, Benjamin Garel, Phil King
For the months of July and August, blueEnergy benefited from an amazing group of volunteers. The group consisted of:

Phil and Kirsty King from Northern Ireland. Phil is a professional wind resource analyst in the UK, Kirsty is a school teacher, and together they have been visiting Central America to work on renewable energy projects. After a four month stint with Enersol in Honduras they joined blueEnergy to head the wind resource study in Bluefields, Rama Cay, and Punta de Aguila.

Marc Leandri from France and Eva Lafuente from Spain. Marc is a political scientist, Eva is a student of political science, and together they joined blueEnergy to head the energy need / market study.

Benjamin Garel from France. Benjamin is a student of forestry and hydrology and joined blueEnergy to play a leading role in the manufacturing process.

Together with Lâl Marandin this team has worked with students, teachers, and technicians from INATEC, BICU, and URACCAN to: (1) prepare and install wind monitoring equipment in Bluefields, Rama Cay, and Punta de Aguila; (2) develop and conduct a preliminary energy need / market study in Rama Cay and Punta de Aguila (with plans to expand to other communities); and (3) build turbine components while improving the manufacturing process and continuing to seek out new material sources.

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WIND RESOURCE STUDY

Wind Rose of INATEC
A wind resource study is being carried out at three locations: Bluefields, Rama Cay, and Punta de Aguila. The purpose of the study is to help blueEnergy determine how much energy its turbines can deliver. This information is important for system sizing, energy pricing, and storage sizing considerations.

The wind monitoring stations are from NRG Systems and each system includes an anemometer (NRG #40), a wind vane (NRG #200P), and a data logger (Wind Explorer). All of the towers are 10 meters tall and have lighting rods installed.

The first installation was done at blueEnergy’s workshop on the INATEC campus in Bluefields. This installation is on a hill overlooking Bluefields and uses a metal pipe tower. The tower is adjacent to the first turbine installed by blueEnergy and the plan is to use the wind monitoring station to create a rough power graph for the turbine.

Lâl Marandin recently completed a preliminary evaluation of the wind data from August. His report (document is in French but has an executive summary in English) will be made available shortly.

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ENERGY NEED / MARKET STUDY
A preliminary energy need / market study is being carried out at two locations: Rama Cay and Punta de Aguila. The purpose of the study is to gather general demographic information and to determine the communities’ demand for electricity and ability to pay for the systems. This information will help blueEnergy determine system size and financing structure and will help blueEnergy assess what institutions could be involved with the long-term care of the systems.

The preliminary energy need / market survey was developed by blueEnergy volunteers Marc Léandri and Eva Lafuente in collaboration with Diala Lopez from URACCAN. Marc and Eva carried out this preliminary survey at Rama Cay, Punta de Aguila, and Karawala. Karawala is an Ulwa community north of Bluefields and is not a part of the pilot project, but blueEnergy does have hopes of someday working there.

Throughout the pilot project, blueEnergy intends to refine the survey and implement it in many more communities along the Caribbean Coast.

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BICU CLASS
In August Lâl began teaching a four-day introductory wind power seminar at BICU. The seminar offered no course credit, but attendance was very high. The BICU campus is directly across from the INATEC campus and many students had seen the new turbine on the hill and were curious to learn more about it.

The class included some basics on energy transfer, magnetism, electricity, renewable energy systems, aerodynamics, and wind power. On the final day of class the students made the trip to the blueEnergy workshop where they were able to see the system components up close and ask more questions.

So far Lâl has taught two seminars and intends to do more in the near future.

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PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT
In order to promote the acceptance of small-scale wind power technology in the region, blueEnergy has been working to bring together local institutions that have not traditionally worked together. All of these organizations have unique, regional development and community experiences that together can be used to formulate a holistic approach to addressing the energy needs of the communities.

blueEnergy’s efforts were rewarded in August with the signing of an agreement between three local learning institutions (BICU, INATEC, and URACCAN) and blueEnergy. This agreement is historic in that it is the foundation of an unprecedented collaboration among local instituations.

The signing of the partnership agreement was well attended and included two local television stations and a radio station.

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Pictures from Nicaragua, July and August, 2004

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blueEnergy has come a long way in the last six months and we could not have done it without the help of many people.

We would like to thank all our financial backers for making our work possible. Special thanks to Colette Grinevald, William Craig, Locey Pfeifer, Bruce Noda, Lou and Elizabeth Wenzl, Michèle Grégoire et Jean-marie Marandin, Nelda Craig, David and Maria Matson, Rolo Duartes, Sara Hale, Lorelei Klein, Eric Anderson, Duncan and Jane McDonald, Abiye Tibebe, Jeff Homan, Laura Iraci, and Jim Boorstein and Melissa Chaney.

Thanks to all those who have volunteered their time and worked relentlessly to make this project a success, especially Humphrey Wong, Phil King, Kirsty King, Marc Leandri, Eva Lafuente, and Benjamin Garel.

Special thanks to Hugh Piggott for all of his years of work on the turbine design used by blueEnergy and for his patience in helping us understand the inner workings of small-scale wind power.

Thanks to Pr. Gustavo Castro Jo, Vice Rector of the Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University for his faith in our project and all the doors he has opened for us; Prof. Zarifeth Bolaños, Vice Rector of the URACCAN, and Profs. Belinda Cabrera and Dionisio Pavon, Directors of INATEC in Bluefields, for their logistic support of our project.

We would like to thank Ismael Castillo from INATEC-IPCC for his devotion to our project and for his valuable advice.

We would like to thank the Rama communities at Rama Cay and Punta de Aguila for their participation in this project. In particular we would like to thank Don Pedro of Punta de Aguila for his tireless help.

We would like to thank the French Embassy in Nicaragua for their help and support of our project - In particular Mr. First Secretary Guy Christophe, Mr. Paul Mazerand of the Cultural Service, Mr. Cédric Tabary, and Colonel Hubert Sauvageot.

We would like to thank Prof. Stephen Connors of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his advice and supervision.

Thanks to NRG Systems for their generous discounts on our wind monitoring stations; WonderMagnets for their donation of magnets and copper wire; and Carlos Gutierrez of Sea Services for his material donations.

Thanks to Galio Gurdian and Maricela Kauffman for their amazing hospitality and endless advice.

Thanks to Francis and Ramon Cabrales for their tremendous hospitality.

Thanks to Prof. Colette Grinevald for everything. Without her blueEnergy would not bE.

Thanks to the entire Castro Jo family for giving us a home away from home.
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Update: July 2004


July 2004 -- blueEnergy Manufactures and Displays a Turbine in Oregon, USA

From June 30th to July 8th blueEnergy built an 8ft diameter wind turbine in Veneta, Oregon, USA. The turbine was built using the same design blueEnergy uses in Nicaragua and was made for a display blueEnergy had at the Oregon Country Fair (Pictures of blueEnergy at the Fair) from July 9th - 11th. The Oregon Country Fair is an annual festival that, among other things, hosts a display space called Energy Park, where organizations showcase various renewable energy technologies. The Fair was attended by over 41,000 people this year and blueEnergy's display turbine drew a crowd throughout the event.

The magnets and the copper winding wire for this turbine were donated by our friends at WonderMagnet and all other materials were purchased in the Veneta/Eugene area.

A brief write-up of the manufacturing process with pictures can be found here. The posting is on a renewable energy and magnetism discussion board called Fieldlines.com, which is hosted by WonderMagnet.

A more detailed set of pictures of the manufacturing process can be found here.

Pictures from Oregon (July 2004)
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Update: June 2004


May/June 2004 -- blueEnergy Begins Operations in Nicaragua

blueEnergy made its official debut in Nicaragua in mid-May when Lâl Marandin (Associate Director and head of Nicaraguan operations) and Humphrey Wong (first Nicaragua volunteer) arrived in Managua to begin the process of locating material sources and building institutional relationships. During the week and a half that Lâl and Humphrey spent in Managua they had meetings with the US Embassy, French Embassy, Canadian Embassy, United Nations Development Program office, National Engineering University (UNI), and Grupo Fenix (a non-governmental organization working with solar energy). The project was very well received and several potential opportunities for support were discussed.

After the intense period of meetings in Managua, Lâl and Humphrey continued on to Bluefields, the home of blueEnergy’s operations in Nicaragua. Shortly after arriving in Bluefields they found a house and rented it to serve as both blueEnergy’s local office and as living quarters for staff and volunteers. The house is centrally located and is adjacent to two of blueEnergy’s main partners in Bluefields – the Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University (BICU) and the National Institute of Technology, Bluefields (INATEC).

Once they were settled in Bluefields, Lâl and Humphrey worked to locate local sources of materials such as wood, steel pipe, bolts, and copper wire. They also worked to develop partnerships with local institutions and communities to give blueEnergy a strong local base. At the end of May, Humphrey returned to the United States having given blueEnergy much of his time and energy. His contributions were significant and he helped blueEnergy hit the ground running.

In early June Lâl was joined by Darin Bird (Director of Technology). On June 7th, the three of them began a three-week wind turbine building workshop, which was attended by members of INATEC, BICU, and the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (URACCAN). The workshop was two hours a day and had the objective of building two complete wind energy systems.

The workshop was a tremendous success. Two turbines were completed on June 25th, as planned. The first of the turbines was installed on the INATEC campus and is now generating electricity!

Pictures from Nicaragua (May/June 2004)
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Update: April 2004


April 2004 -- Wind Turbine Manufacturing Workshop

From April 12th - 17th, three members of the blueEnergy team (Lâl Marandin, Darin Bird, and Mathias Craig) attended a one-week wind turbine manufacturing workshop. The workshop was led by Hugh Piggott, a world renowned small wind turbine expert, and was hosted on Guemes Island (north of Seattle, WA) by Ian Woofenden, of Solar Energy International. The workshop was hands-on and gave blueEnergy the opportunity to work up-close with some leading experts in the small-scale renewable energy industry.

The workshop included theoretical discussions but was focused on the practical application of wind turbine technology. We spent most of each day in a shop, building wind turbine components from scratch from Hugh Piggott's designs. The goal of the workshop was to build, assemble, and test both an 8 ft. diameter wind machine and a 12 ft. diameter machine. People threw themselves into the project with great fervor and we were able to complete both machines in the allotted time.

Just over 20 people attended the workshop. Some had experience in electronics, others in mechanical engineering, others in solar power, and yet others in sustainable development. Some came to the workshop as wind power hobbiests, others as garage tinkerers, and some with the intention of replicating the shop work in other parts of the world. Whatever peoples' motivations, the group was intelligent, dedicated, and hard working. The entire experience was amazing and blueEnergy strongly recommends this workshop to anyone with an interest in small-scale windpower.

Pictures from the workshop

Short video clips from the workshop
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Update: August 2003


July/August 2003 -- Preliminary Visit

blueEnergy’s Mathias Craig and Lâl Marandin traveled to Nicaragua for two weeks at the end of July and the beginning of August, 2003. The trip was a preliminary visit to the region where blueEnergy intends to launch its twelve-month pilot project in spring 2004. Mathias and Lâl were joined by Colette Grinevald, a prominent linguist who heads the Rama Language Dictionary Project. The dictionary project is focused on documenting the endangered language spoken by the Rama peoples on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua.

The first three days of the trip were spent in Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua. There, Mathias and Lâl met with Luis Román, a local business owner who manufactures and sells basic wind powered water pumping systems. The company he operates, now called AMEC, was founded in the 1980’s with the help of a grant from the Dutch government and now subsists wholly on the income generated through the sales of its systems. AMEC is of interest to blueEnergy because it provides an example of a renewable energy company that made the transition from a nonprofit organization to a forprofit business and then succeeded in Nicaragua’s economic and political climate.

The following nine days were spent in Bluefields and the surrounding areas. While in Bluefields, Mathias and Lâl met with: Gustavo Castro, the vice rector of the Bluefields Indian & Caribbean University (BICU) and Lucía Dávila, a professor at BICU; Diala Lopez, the coordinator of the sustainable development project (IREMADES) at the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (URACCAN); Dionisio Pavón, the director of the National Institute of Technology, Bluefields (INATEC); and Norman Howard, the director of the United Nations Development Program’s Bluefields office. At these meetings Mathias and Lâl described blueEnergy’s proposed pilot project and discussed possibilities of collaboration. Responses were very positive and everyone was anxious to receive follow-up reports on the evolution of the proposed pilot project.

During the time spent on the Atlantic Coast, three trips were made out of Bluefields to communities that blueEnergy hopes to work with during its pilot project. The two communities visited were the island of Rama Cay, located about 30 minutes south of Bluefields by boat, and Punta Aguila, located about 2 hours south of Bluefields by boat. Two trips were made to Rama Cay, where Mathias, Lâl, and Colette met with community leaders and discussed the project and one overnight trip was made to Punta Aguila to also discuss the pilot project.

The last two days of the preliminary trip were spent back in Managua. In Managua, Mathias and Lâl met with Asier Erdozain, a United Nations Development Program official who works in the Environment and Energy group. Again a presentation was given and the possibility of collaboration and sponsorship was discussed.

More pictures from the preliminary visit.
AMEC wind powered water pumping systems. (July 2003 - Managua, Nicaragua)
Dock on the island of Rama Cay (August 2003 - Rama Cay, Nicaragua)
Fishermen in the community of Punta Aguila (August 2003 - Punta Aguila, Nicaragua)
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