News 6 april 2011 - Crowd funding for disabled
After visiting the international conference on wind turbines in Dakar, it felt like the whole world is already aware of the great possibilities of this concept: locally fabricated wind turbines with local material and local knowledge. At this conference more than 15 organizations presented their success stories in Africa and South-America.
Now back in Netherlands and Tanzania, the feeling is opposite. There are so many people still not aware of what 'I Love Windpower' and similar organizations are doing in development countries. Therefore I decided to put more effort in reaching a lot of people.
How to do? Via the new social media. Is it a hype? or does it really work? Let's see. I started a new project in which I am going to train the disabled employees (polio-victims in early childhood) of Wonder Workshop in Dar Es Salaam on how to make a Piggott-turbine. They are already experienced making perfect wooden blades. But they can do the whole turbine, I am convinced! This project I am going to promote through the new social media. A good starting point will be at the 1% club.
http://www.1procentclub.nl/projects/windtraining_gehandicapten/bannerframe230?plural</a>">
 After visiting the international conference on wind turbines in Dakar, it felt like the whole world is already aware of the great possibilities of this concept: locally fabricated wind turbines with local material and local knowledge. At this conference more than 15 organizations presented their success stories in Africa and South-America.
Read more...
News 1 february 2011 - Two turbines installed in Singida region
This group in the Singida Master Class performed beyond every expectation! In the last two weeks they achieved to:
* build 2 turbines (type HughPiggott; 3 meter diameter; peak power at 1 kW)
* prepare 3 sites, one site at VETA-ground for testing purpose and two sites in rural area
* weld 2 complete gin-pole constructions
* prepare 2 electronic boards
* install the two turbines at different rural dispensaries in the Singida region
What else to say? These facts are really impressive, given the fact that we had a 'power-schedule' of only one day national grid 3-phase power every two days.
Many thanks to REA, VETA, and all the participants: mr. Joseph, mr. Gatahwa, mr. Tullo, mr. Makengo, mr. Membo, mrs. Charity, mr. Humphrey, mr. Ephraim, mr. Baraka, mr. Kayungi, mr. Simeon, mr. Emanuel, mr. Matiko, mrs. Jemina, mr. Matia, mr. Pau, mr. Jakob, mr. Ayoub, mr. Pascal, mr. Paul, and mr. Thriphone
You were a fantastic and very enthousiastic group!
 This group in the Singida Master Class performed beyond every expectation!
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News 19 january 2011 - Singida Master Class started
The Tanzanian Rural Energy Agency (REA) makes it possible for us to give another master class on small scale wind turbines in Tanzania already in january 2011. This time we are hosted by the Vocational Education Training Association (VETA) of Singida. Singida town is situated in the center of the country, about 3 hours driving from capital city Dodoma.
After one week of procuring materials and other preparations in Dar Es Salaam, we headed for Singida in our Toyota Rav4. Because we are transporting material for 2 wind turbines (model 1 kW-peak, 3 m rotordiameter), the Rav4 just managed this trip. On the few rough road sections, the exhaust pipe hit the ground several times. Fortunatly the trip is nearly completly on tarmac road.
On monday we started the master class. About 15 participants (again with various background) are joining. In the morning, we have theoretical lectures and instructions with the whole group in a class room. Around 11:00 am we shift from theory to practice. All participants work in seperate groups which are shifting activities every 3 days. By this roulating scheme, each participant gets in touch with every aspect of the wind turbine. The new workshop of VETA Singida is well-equiped for the practical work.
At this moment, the seperate components become clear. That's nice for the participants, because up till now they don't have a real prototype. Only the technical drawings, the RecipeBook (manual) and video's give them some idea about what they are building.
 The Tanzanian Rural Energy Agency (REA) makes it possible for us to give another master class on small scale wind turbines in Tanzania already in january 2011. This time we are hosted by the Vocational Education Training Association (VETA) of Singida. Singida town is situated in the center of the country, about 3 hours driving from capital city Dodoma.
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News 14 february 2011 - International conference in Dakar, Senegal
Last week the first international conference on small scale (local build) wind turbines was held in Dakar, Senegal. The one-week conference was part of the bigger World Social Forum. I was very excited to go there, because I could meet with a lot of people that I only know by e-mail. Moreover for me it was the first time to meet Hugh Piggott.
The conference was fantastic. Organizations from all over the world with experience on HughPiggott-type wind turbines (for the experts: horizontal axis, axial flux, PMG, auto-furling) came together to share their experience. Not only the technicalities of these turbines where discussed. Also experience on how to integrate this technology in rural communities was shared. This gave the conference a fascinating mixture of cultural and technical aspects of small scale wind in off-grid Africa.
Organizations are normally divided in two main categories: NGO's and for-profits. After a couple of days we concluded that this is a strange way of classifying, because the 'for-profits' that operate in Africa are often fighting very hard to keep the business up, leaving a small marginal profit for themselves. Whereas the NGO's (the 'non-profits') from Europa and USA normally have a high standard of living, can efford new cars, and allow themselves a lot of traveling with airplanes. To quote one participante from Africa: "my conference room is not fancy enough to become an NGO, therefore I started a for-profit :-)". Social enterprises appear to be a succesfull way of achieving the desired goal.
All participating organizations have interest in a structural sharing of their knowledge and experience. Therefore probably a world wide association will be formed. If you have interest in joining or like to know more about this, do not hesitate to contact us or another organization that was present in Dakar. We are still in the process of coming up with the most appropriate name for this association. Because there are a lot of similarities with 'open source software', the brainstorm session came up with names like 'open wind', 'fair wind', and more funny names which will be difficult to explain if you did not attend the bar session of the previous night. More on this topic in the near future.
 Last week the first international conference on small scale (local build) wind turbines was held in Dakar, Senegal. The one-week conference was part of the bigger World Social Forum. I was very excited to go there, because I could meet with a lot of people that I only know by e-mail. Moreover for me it was the first time to meet Hugh Piggott.
Read more...
News 22 january 2011 - First turbine ready in Singida Master Class and visit to meteo station
Today was a special day in the master class. First of all, it was decided by the participants themselves to continue working on saturday. Whereas normally in such a training, saturday would be part of the free weekend. So we started this saturday at 8 am in the morning like every training day.
After tea-break we payed a short visit to the metereological institute of Singida, which is part of the Tanzanian Meteorological Agency (TMA). One participant in our group works for this governmental department in Dodoma, so he could easily arrange a visit. The observant on duty explained us the instruments they use to measure all kinds of meteorological parameters, like amount of rainfall, temperature and of course wind speed.
Back at the workshop, we suffered from the powercuts. The last couple of weeks Tanzania faces major deficit in power supply. The only solution for the national power company Tanesco is to distribute the available power over different areas at different time periods. Today the VETA workshop was in a schedule with no power between 8 am and 6 pm. Nevertheless we continued working with a generator that fails sometimes. At the end of the day we finished our first turbine. That gave a boost to the participans!
At 6 pm we planned to call it a day. And then the power was back again. With the 3-phase electricity from the grid, you can make good quality welding joints, which are not possible when using the (1-phase only) power from our generator. In stead of cleaning the workshop, most participants became enthousiastic to also finish the whole pole construction today, given this power opportunity. Around 8 pm, we left the workshop tired but very happy after 12 hours of work on a weekend day.
 Today was a special day in the master class. First of all, it was decided by the participants themselves to continue working on saturday. Whereas normally in such a training, saturday would be part of the free weekend. So we started this saturday at 8 am in the morning like every training day.
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News 3 december 2010 - Kiswahili version of Wind Turbine Recipe Book
News 3 december 2010 - Kiswahili version of Wind Turbine Recipe Book
After giving the master class on Hugh Piggott wind turbines in Tanzania, it was recognized by the participants that not everybody is familiar with the English language. During the master class this was not a very big problem, because participants could help eachother translating English into Kiswahili, which is the national language of Tanzania.
However, after the training all participants went back to their homes in very different parts of Tanzania. Although mobile phones are increasingly covering the country, it appears to be difficult for a lot of Tanzanian workshop artisans - also called 'fundi' - to help eachother on translating. Therefore it was decided to make an extra manual in the Kiswahili language.
This Kiswahili manual is especially made for the 'fundi' of Tanzania. In daily life they are carpenter, welder, or electrotechnician. They have shown an interest in wind energy because renewable energies is a rapidly growing market. Moreover, some locations in Tanzania are without any doubt good locations for a wind turbine. This manual will give them the opportunity to build a Hugh Piggott turbine themselves.
We are proudly presenting this first version of the famous Wind Turbine Recipe Book in the Kiswahili language. We thank mr. Hugh Piggott for giving us this possibility. For copies please contact us.
Kind regards,
Anthony Karomba & Roland Valckenborg
 After giving the master class on Hugh Piggott wind turbines in Tanzania, it was recognized by the participants that not everybody is familiar with the English language. During the master class this was not a very big problem, because participants could help eachother translating English into Kiswahili, which is the national language of Tanzania. However, after the training all participants went back to their homes in very different parts of Tanzania. Although mobile phones are increasingly covering the country, it appears to be difficult for a lot of Tanzanian workshop artisans - also called 'fundi' - to help eachother on translating. Therefore it was decided to make an extra manual in the Kiswahili language.
Read more...
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The master class of September 2010 in Dar Es Salaam resulted in tree turbines in total. The 1.8 meter model (peak power 350W) was still lying in the store waiting to be installed. Last week, there was finally an opportunity to install it. Tatedo has chosen for powering a public service house in Kwemasimba, a small mountain village close to the town of Korogwe.
