Folkecenter for Renewable Energy (FC) is a non-profit research and training instituteis that provides research, development of technology, training and information for the feasibility, manufacture and implementation of significant renewable resource technologies in Denmark and throughout the world. It receives trainees from many parts of the world. It's got enough stories of its trainees from developing world and going back home to implement projects and organize similar folkcenter programs. One folkcenter chapter was set up in Mali by a former trainee and a trainee from Thailand bought back a second-hand wind turbine from Denmark. Another master student from Channi I met there is also thinking of setting up similar institute once he gets back to India.
The greatest thing I find about this place reside in its accessibility to the general population while maintaining a certain level of technical advancement and research. Although it is less clear to me how widely spread its influence is and the level of scientific research, it surely started a model that plants seeds all over the world. The head of information Jane was extremely helpful in setting things up for us, food, accommodation, tours. She brought up a lot of information when I asked her the details about the second-hand windmill "business."
In the following parts I will introduce some of the gadgets we learned about there and potential opportunities both for Enenrgy Crossroads or whoever is interested in employing these technologies in good use. Again, the technology for to fulfill basic development need is there to a large extend, it is often a matter of getting it off ground.
The corridor in sunlight. The solar modules filter the light and the result is a pleasant smooth light.
The thin-film modules allow 30 % of the light to pass through. The pattern of the modules creates an exciting light/shadow pattern in the corridor.
(http://www.folkecenter.net/gb/rd/solar-energy/architecture/)
I was very excited to see a real "Jiko" stove used in Kenya
as a more efficient cooking device. Charcoal balls are burned in the lower level of,closed, with air coming in from the holes you see above. Like a beehive . My concern would be output of the smoke. Our Cameroonian friend said people there mostly put them outside while using. Well I guess this defnitely saves the materials for stacks if cooking outside is not an issue for the locals.
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This is the control box for a mini windmill on top of the roof. The left one is directly connected to the grid. You can see a meter as is the black box on the right. The other I believe transform the current from direct to alternate. The big silver box above is a dumpload that is used to, literally, dump the excessive energy generated by the windmill. Yes sometimes it generates so much and if there is not enough consumption in the house it has to be thrown away to keep the system safe. Also, because the price for them to sell back the electricity is cheaper than that with which they buy electricity from the grid, there is not much incentives for them to actually sell it back. The dumpload also exists for other testing purposes.
And here come all the windmills that are being tested here. Some are owned by NFC. Others are put here by small and medium sized companies for a fee to be tested. In general, the wind speed in this area averages around 5.8m/s, with 3.5 m/s being the starting point for the windmill to work and 25-26 m/s the maximum it can hold without being damaged (beyond that point it should be shut down to protect itself).
There are currently 5200 windmills currently registered throughout Denmark. Yes, like each single one of the living human being, it all has a licence and every drop of electricity it generates is also kept in the book. You should even be able to access these data online in case you want to check their performance or buy an old one.
If I am not mistaken the one on the immediate right side is an old 55 KWp VISTAS. It is 25 meters high till the top of the blade. It has been erected for 25 years and is still good to go for at least another 20 years.
This one is the 6 KWp EasyWind produced by a Germany company for
primarily for the household market. It costs about 25,000 euros and the payback is estimated to be around 8 years under current electricity prices (flows around 2 DKK/kwh). The power it produces should be enough for family that consumes energy modestly. It can annually produce about 10,000 - 15,000 kWh, depending on wind conditions. It only took the staff seven hours for the whole installation and at the end of day it was ready to produce power. I personally think this is a much better choice than solar PV in windy places like Denmark. Payback time is much better and the same goes for embedded energy life cycle analysis.
For more info, http://www.folkecenter.net/gb/rd/wind-energy/48006/easywind/
A mini combined heat and power station, produced in Japan. This is also what NFC mostly advocates for, for a decentralized community power supply system. The major principle is that in this case, plant oil, is burned to generate electricity at an efficiency of around 25 % and the waste heat is used for heating, achieving an overall efficiency of about 85%. Usually if only electricity is generated, the efficiency is just slightly higher, say 30%. Of course the larger the plant and the efficiency could be much higher (around 50%). Yet the problem, as every system has its flaw, is the oil used. The production of oil is not as efficient as desired. Three kilogram of seeds produces about only 1 kg of oil, although the residue plants could go for animals. But this depends on the type of plant since some are not favored by animals. And of course when it comes to acquiring the biomass in large scale, one has to deal with the controversy of deforestation for plantation and such. Another discussion the director Preben raised is about the low-cost of storing energy in the form of biomass. It also only should be used as backup to solar or wind because of all its problems.
But the dialogue is also about scale and balance, time and place. The picture below is an oil producing machine that has been also employed in villages in Mali, Africa. The see
d plant called Jatropha is squeezed through this machine to produce oil and by-product of soap. Village women in Mali would collect the seeds on and bring them to where the machine is located and then sell the oil (I guess they have to pay a fee for the machine, Jane did not mention it though). It has since become a means to make a living for those women. I dont remember how much this one costs but there is also a Danish model that costs 3500 DKK and produces 8 litre of oil per hour. Ann was thinking about buying one back to Uganda. It is certainly easier said than done, as we discussed later and raise questions such as what type of local plants could be used to grown to produce the oil, how much people are willing to pay to use the machine, where can they sell the oil, will this pose challenge to local food supply...etc. Some particular vegetable oil could also be used for car engine but one needs to add a preheater, converter and filter for it to burn properly and not to harm the engine.
It is not my intention to mention solar hot water, my personal favorite, at
last. It is just matter of how blogger uploaded my pictures. Again I am surprised to know that vacuum tube collector is actually cheaper than flat plat (the same case in India, but the opposite in the States). Flat plate uses more copper which is expensive in India, and has lower efficiency than vacuum tube. Aesthetically they could be really different which then is a matter of personal taste. In places where there is much winter snow, tube is also subject to snow accumulation on top just because it is so well insulated. NFC has tube collector that only stores water inside, that is the tube is both a heater and storage. More sophisticatedly there is oil liquid running up and down within the tube to transfer the heat to the water that is running on top of all the tubes. It then condenses and falls back down and start the process again.
The left one is broken as you can see the white color at the bottom.
We did not go into detail with solar PV. Here in Denmark its payback time is usually twice as much as that of wind, which is about 20 years. It is still not a bad case considering the solar panel can usually last over 20 years. PV market has also become increasingly competitive and the efficiency is still progressing as new technology breakthrough is often on the news. China now has become one of the largest producer worldwide and its domestic market is yet to be fully taped.
The thin-film modules allow 30 % of the light to pass through. The pattern of the modules creates an exciting light/shadow pattern in the corridor.
(http://www.folkecenter.net/gb/rd/solar-energy/architecture/)
I was very excited to see a real "Jiko" stove used in Kenya
.
This is the control box for a mini windmill on top of the roof. The left one is directly connected to the grid. You can see a meter as is the black box on the right. The other I believe transform the current from direct to alternate. The big silver box above is a dumpload that is used to, literally, dump the excessive energy generated by the windmill. Yes sometimes it generates so much and if there is not enough consumption in the house it has to be thrown away to keep the system safe. Also, because the price for them to sell back the electricity is cheaper than that with which they buy electricity from the grid, there is not much incentives for them to actually sell it back. The dumpload also exists for other testing purposes.
And here come all the windmills that are being tested here. Some are owned by NFC. Others are put here by small and medium sized companies for a fee to be tested. In general, the wind speed in this area averages around 5.8m/s, with 3.5 m/s being the starting point for the windmill to work and 25-26 m/s the maximum it can hold without being damaged (beyond that point it should be shut down to protect itself).There are currently 5200 windmills currently registered throughout Denmark. Yes, like each single one of the living human being, it all has a licence and every drop of electricity it generates is also kept in the book. You should even be able to access these data online in case you want to check their performance or buy an old one.
If I am not mistaken the one on the immediate right side is an old 55 KWp VISTAS. It is 25 meters high till the top of the blade. It has been erected for 25 years and is still good to go for at least another 20 years.
This one is the 6 KWp EasyWind produced by a Germany company for
primarily for the household market. It costs about 25,000 euros and the payback is estimated to be around 8 years under current electricity prices (flows around 2 DKK/kwh). The power it produces should be enough for family that consumes energy modestly. It can annually produce about 10,000 - 15,000 kWh, depending on wind conditions. It only took the staff seven hours for the whole installation and at the end of day it was ready to produce power. I personally think this is a much better choice than solar PV in windy places like Denmark. Payback time is much better and the same goes for embedded energy life cycle analysis.For more info, http://www.folkecenter.net/gb/rd/wind-energy/48006/easywind/
But the dialogue is also about scale and balance, time and place. The picture below is an oil producing machine that has been also employed in villages in Mali, Africa. The see
d plant called Jatropha is squeezed through this machine to produce oil and by-product of soap. Village women in Mali would collect the seeds on and bring them to where the machine is located and then sell the oil (I guess they have to pay a fee for the machine, Jane did not mention it though). It has since become a means to make a living for those women. I dont remember how much this one costs but there is also a Danish model that costs 3500 DKK and produces 8 litre of oil per hour. Ann was thinking about buying one back to Uganda. It is certainly easier said than done, as we discussed later and raise questions such as what type of local plants could be used to grown to produce the oil, how much people are willing to pay to use the machine, where can they sell the oil, will this pose challenge to local food supply...etc. Some particular vegetable oil could also be used for car engine but one needs to add a preheater, converter and filter for it to burn properly and not to harm the engine.It is not my intention to mention solar hot water, my personal favorite, at
The left one is broken as you can see the white color at the bottom.
Thanks Yiting, interesting to read although I was there and had about the same notes. Oh, by the way point of correction, the machine in Mali cost 35,000 Dkk not 3500.
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