Aruba’s first commercial wind turbine site is on its way to completion. Here at The Bent Page we updated over the summer on the construction phase. Now the Vestas turbines are spinning in the wind. Still some work to be done, but this is a beautiful sight:

Tour buses now take visitors past this area, as do the private guides. It’s worth a look. These units hardly make a sound and yet they produce a handsome amount of electricity.

Bon dia.

The wind turbine project continues here in Aruba. All the foundations have been built and now the towers, generating units, and blades have arrived. A team assembles them even as this post goes up. The first photo shows the truck that delivers the generating units arriving on site and being unloaded.

To grasp the scale of these units, consider them beside that Toyota Yaris parked along side the truck. The next photo shows the base into which fits the tower and the nacelle which houses the generating unit.

Finally, you can now see one wind turbine completely assembled and the next one in progress.

Let’s have one more look at that, shall we?

Reports indicate this facility will be producing energy in January 2010. I hope so. The wind blows strong in Aruba. No reason not to make some electricity. Why not built another ten or twenty or thirty?

Bon dia.

Here in Aruba, windmills will soon be turning. A friend and I headed to the south east side of the island where the foundations are now going in for some very large turbines that will soon capture the energy of the trade winds and turn it into electricity for the island. Here’s a look at how the foundations are built.

First, a site is excavated and a pad of concrete is poured with large rebar to tie it together with the next level of the foundation.

Then a cage of rebar is set up like this:

With the man standing on the left in the photo above, you get a sense of the scale of this structure. Finally, the concrete is poured around the rebar to complete the base, which looks like this:

Soon there will be towers standing atop these bases. Then will come the turbines themselves with their massive blades turning in the wind.

I can’t wait to see this project delivering power to the grid in Aruba. It will be a giant leap forward for the island.

Many homes in Aruba do not have running hot water. Some use small, point of use units to heat water used in the shower. These are typically electrically powered and draw quite a bit of current. However, the other day I spotted this solar hot water unit.

This unit is actually quite sophisticated. It has a flat collector plate that captures the sun’s rays, transferring the heat to water piped through the collector area. Then the hot water is stored in an insulated tank you see at the top left of the unit. This way, even after the sun goes down, you have hot water on demand. Here in Aruba, where the sun is very strong, this unit can deliver enough hot water for a typical family of four. The best part is, after the initial investment of purchasing and installing it, there are no additional costs. This one is mounted at ground level for easy maintenance but they can also be mounted on top of the roof.

If you’re considering a home in Aruba, I strongly suggest a system like the one pictured above. It will save you money in the long run and thereby make your island home that much more affordable.

Bon dia from Aruba.

The University of Michigan’s solar powered car is currently in Aruba. It was on display at the Paseo Herencia Mall, the AVP political party’s headquarters in Oranjestaad, and in San Nicolaas during a drive around the island. Here’s a photo.

Not much room to sit in this thing. Anyway, it was interesting to see the vehicle out on the street. As you can see from the photo, they allowed people to get rather close. The kids thought it was great. Here’s a plug for all the sponsors of the effort.

It’s good to know there are smart people out there working hard to solve various energy issues. While this vehicle may not seem practical, the knowledge gained from such ventures can be applied to any number of other projects. No doubt the future will bring things that we might never have expected.

Bon dia from Aruba.

Who would have thought that sailing ships would come back into style? I mean, isn’t that how the first ships were powered? Yes, wind and human power at the oars. However the Sky Sails company has taken sailing to a new level. They use a kite, which is actually a sort of wing, that is tethered to the ship. The kite is flown up to 300 meters above the ship, a place where the winds are stronger and more reliable. They’ve been doing some test runs and fuel savings are better than 10% when compared to normal operations and are on the way to 20% or more. That’s better than $1000 per day for a 10,000 ton ship. Mucho dinero as my Spanish speaking friends would say.

Check out this video for some good footage of the system in action: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QUyetrs3MQ0&feature=related.

Thus, there are smart people doing great things out there to protect the environment and make money at the same time. Best thing we can do is let them continue their good work unmolested.

The DC/AC inverter is the heart of any off-grid power system with electricity produced by solar and wind. Most small wind turbines and solar panels produce direct current (DC) electricity. However, the electricity you use in your home is alternating current (AC). We won’t bog down here with the details of that. Suffice it to say that you need to convert the DC to AC. The device that does this is called an inverter. The inverter draws power from the wind turbine and solar panels as well as from the batteries in the system. It then delivers it to the system in clean, regulated, AC form. Here’s a look a stack of four inverters as part of a system built by Outback Power.

Those four magic block boxes, one on top of each other, are the inverters. Each one of those takes 48 volt DC current and converts it to 120 volt AC current. The output of each one is combined in the adjacent boxes so that you can have both 120 and 240 volts. This system, with its four inverters produces a maximum of 10,000 watts of steady power. It can handle a surge load for a brief period of up to 14,000 watts.

10,000 watts is enough to power my entire house in Aruba, including those two power-hungry air conditioners. I rarely run them at the same time. Nonetheless, I’ve over-sized the system to handle the demand. Over-sizing is the key to happiness with off-grid systems (and pick-up trucks). It is always cheaper to build a larger system at the beginning than to upgrade later.

Lately, these systems have been growing in popularity. Companies like Outback have made them easier to set up, more efficient, and less maintenance intensive. Similarly, contractors have used them in “plug and play” systems that are easy for homeowners to understand. I can’t wait to have mine working and putting the money back into my own pocket instead of paying a utility company.

The photo below shows the roof of the Dutch Marine Base located in Savaneta, Aruba. A few years ago, they installed these solar panels in order to power their motor pool facilities. I have not been able to go inside to check them out up close, but I’m told the system works very well.

This is a large installation of panels. About 10 times what I will put up for my own house. Still, it shows what can be done. Furthermore, since the system activated, the price of electricity on the island has increased significantly. Thus, the payback time has decreased, making it a better investment than originally anticipated.

At this time, there is a flurry of activity in alternative energy in Aruba. The local power company has a monopoly on electricity generation and distribution. They are not pleased with the clamor for private systems that are grid connected. No monopoly likes to have it’s authority and revenue questioned. There is talk of 500 permits being issued for grid-connected systems. This is a smoke and mirror approach that will only lead to special fees and taxes designed to limit the private sector and make private ownership of power generation too costly. Nonetheless, private individuals are installing systems that are OFF-GRID. It won’t be long before the flood gates are open. The cost of electricity in Aruba is blindingly high and the incentive to have individual systems is extremely rewarding. Thus, the private sector will not only reduce pollution but also give those people who put forth the effort a great return on their investment. Go for it.

So in the last post, I said I needed to DELIVER 7,000 watts of power to keep my airco system working here in Aruba. The next logical question is how am I going to produce electricity in the first place. Well, here in Aruba we have copious supplies of both wind and sun. The trade winds blow across this island day and night, month after month, we few exceptions. My own observations show that the average wind speed on my property is in excess of 24 mph. As for the sun, it blazes at least 8 hours a day. Cloudy and rainy days do occur but not very often and rarely several in a row.

So, how do we get the wind to make electricity? With one of these:

To the left is a Southwest Wind Power, Whisper 200, wind turbine. More commonly referred to as a “windmill.” The unit produces a maximum of 1,000 watts of power when a steady breeze of 27 mph is passing through its blades. But wait a minute, I said my average speed is only 24 mph. That’s right and at 24 mph this unit produces 800 watts. To keep it simple, this wind turbine could (theoretically) power an electrical device requiring 800 watts of power given  the conditions I described.

In the real world, things are a bit different. Here’s where we all have to concentrate. Let’s say that at my house the wind blows at 24mph for 10 hours each day. That means the windmill would produce 800 watts times 10 hours for a total of 8,000 watts. What can 8,000 watts do? It could run that big airco of mine for a little more than 2 hours. Now, my on-site observations show that the wind blows MORE than 24 mph for approximately 20 hours per day (yes, it is that windy in Aruba). So, I can reasonably expect this unit to deliver 16,000 watts per day to the system.

I did mention something about the sun. The example is much the same with different equipment. A solar panel like the one on the left does the job. Yeah, it’s one of those sort of shiny blue things that typically goes on the roof. My system will use 200 watt panels. Each one will produce 200 watts if operating at its maximum. I’m going to string 5 of them together to have the potential for 1,000 watts. Again, I’m going to de-rate the output to 800 watts and I’m going to say that it will produce that much 7 hours per day for a total of 5,600 watts per day.

Now it is time to combine these two sources. Together, I’m expecting them to produce a total of 21,500 watts per day. Let’s round DOWN again, to 21,000. Finally we get to the fun part. What can I do with the 21,000 watts and those airco units? Just divide the production by the demand. I could run them both for 3 hours since they require 7,000 watts together. I could run the larger one for about 6.5 hours, or the smaller one 7 hours, or some combination of both. Since I rounded demand UP and production DOWN, I should have some room to maneuver here.

Either way, I’m satisfied that this method of production will give me what I want, which is to run those air conditioners long enough to keep my cat, my wife, and myself comfortable here in Aruba. Next time I’ll talk about combining this power into a manageable form. In between, we’ll have some more fun on the island, writing books, and taking photos.

We’ve been having fun, traipsing around Aruba, looking at beaches, checking out the sights, dining at all kinds of restaurants. However, having a house here is like having a house most anywhere else in the sense that utilities are a serious issue. The cost of electricity in Aruba is quite high because they burn oil to make it. (I’m not going to get into the politics of this just now. Suffice it to say that I believe in private solutions.)

My original goal for the house was to power the air conditioning system off the grid. Thus, the question, “How much power do I need to produce to get those airco’s off the grid?” The answer follows:

Last year, I installed two brand new split-type air-conditioners. The larger one uses 14.4 amps of power at 220 volts which means approximately 3168 watts. The smaller one uses 12.6 amps at 220 volts, consuming 2772 watts. Add those two together and you end up with at least 5,940 watts. When it comes to power use, I like to round UP. Therefore, at a minimum, I need to produce 6,000 watts of electricity to run both air conditioners at the same time. But wait a minute! When you first turn the airco on, it draws a bit more power to get started. So, let’s set the minimum at 7,000 watts. To correct myself slightly, I need to DELIVER that many watts to keep these unit cranking.

Okay, how am I going to do this? Production will come from a wind turbine and solar panels (photovoltaic). This power will have to be converted from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). How is that going to be done? With an INVERTER. What if the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining? Electricity will be stored in a BATTERY BANK. How is the battery bank going to be charged? Through the inverter and a CHARGE CONTROLLER.

Are you still with me? I hope so. None of this is as complicated as it sounds and there are some details that aren’t discussed here. (Please, if i made any mistakes, let me know so I can correct them.) You can purchase entire systems that are basically “plug and play.” A qualified electrician can have you up and running in no time.

Now, the next post is going to look at ENERGY PRODUCTION for this system. There will be pictures, too. Remember one thing: Once the system is operating, you get a return on your investment and protection against future price increases. Every time the price of energy goes up, it’s as if you’re saving more. And you are because you have a fixed cost for your system and a little extra for the maintenance.

Enough for now. Stay tuned. And don’t forget that you can control your energy consumption AND production. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. You have to be willing to change a little or a lot depending on your goals. However, you do not have to live in a cave, eating berries.