A few photos from our first six months of researching, designing, and building

Kyle and Grant with the M2 on the day we finished rotor assembly. We really picked up our pace with this turbine and put it together in less than three weeks despite integrating numerous improvements to the design.

Grant welding the base for the M2. Grant's quote "You can do a lot of things with wood, but you can do it a whole lot better with steel

 Mixing cement at sunset in the smallest wheel barrel in Central America

9 Coil Stator for the M2 Alternator. Things really got down to the wire on the last day before Grant had to return to Canada. We managed to build the alternator in about a day. We were winding coils on the back deck at about 8:30 pm and the next day we cast the stator in fiberglass resin. It was a huge improvement on the M1 stator and came out to be about half the thickness. This means a lot more power and much higher efficiency!!

Lucas, Ramon, and I posing with the M1. This is an oldie but a goody back when we were testing the performance of the blades on a simple test-stand that we rigged up. The blades were eventually put up on a tree-pole tower. The nice thing about the M1 turbine is that it can be fabricated without power tools using very inexpensive materials. Its something that people in remote communities could build with a hand drill, saw, some recycled automotive parts, magnets and a lot of patience. 

The completed M1. This turbine has been powering our house for about 5 months and has been holding up really well for a first prototype. It was an important starting point and we learned so much from designing and building it. It will always have a special place in my heart as my humble beginning.

An bottom view of the M1 rotor assembly. The turbine looks like the Nicaraguan flag with its blue struts and white sails. The Dacron sail cloth was salvaged from a 40 year old yacht sail donated by Grant Warga. Despite its age the sails have been perfect which is a testament to the robustness of this blade design. Much thanks to Grant for his contribution to renewable energy research!

Building the VWERC lab casita. When word got around that we needed to build a work shop, four of our good friends stopped by to help with the construction. That's Ramon securing the wood braces for the roof with myself, Allan, Luis, and Ringo helping out. These guys are always around to help...they are the best!!!

Alright, well that's a little sample of what we've been up to at the VWERC lab. Keep checking in as we should have some videos up soon!!

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A Long Time Coming

Well as you can tell we have sorely lacked updates to this blog, but it's for some good reasons. Kyle has been quite busy building the second prototype of his turbine, now called the M2. The second reason is because we have no internet connection in Venecia (and we like it that way!) and our brief visits to Chinandega have been more devoted to the consumption of protein and cervezas. However we have much news to update:

        Since our last post we have been in Nicaragua for another 90 days, making our total time in the country amount to 170 days (!), and wow has that time has flown by. Currently we are sitting in the cafeteria of the United Nations University for Peace in El Rodeo, Costa Rica. We came here to renew our tourist visa and at the same time visit some friends, Blanesta Ada, a former alumnus of the university who now works there developing the Distance Education program, and Julian Morales, Blanesta's former landlord and developer of the Venecia area. Both are dear friends to us and we're happy to see them again. Today at noon Kyle is doing a 45-minute presentation during a lunch forum for students of the university. He's been working hard making a powerpoint and describing his work in the community with his turbines, and their role in the sustainability of the area. Jessica will be filming the presentation and we hope to post it here on the blog later on.

Since we came down to Nicaragua on January 12th there have been some major changes in our living arrangements. We are still living in the same beautiful house on the beach, but this time we wanted to live with our friends, Ramón and his wife Jessenia (or Moncho and Chela as they are known to everyone else in the community. Pretty much everyone in Venecia, and in Nicaragua in general have a nickname) and their three beautiful daughters: Griselda, 9, Ingrid, 7, and Jhoxary, soon to be 3 on April 16th! Previously they were the caretakers of this house when no one was around and they have really taken care of the house and its surroundings by planting a garden, clearing the land of dead wood, building a roof for the well, an outdoor cooking area, a gate for the "driveway" and an additional fence at the back of the lot. They also keep their free-range gallinas (hens) and some gallos (roosters) at the house, along with their trusty dog, Vivi. During the last trip down from October to December they all lived at Ramón's mother's house and Ramón would usually visit at least once a day to check in on things and socialize with us. This time however, since only the two of us returned we thought it would be ridiculous to ask them to leave while we had a four-bedroom house to ourselves and asked them to please stay and live with us in the house, and as Ramón said: "Like a family."


We truly consider them part of our family now and believe they feel the same way about us. And of course along with them comes their respective families and friends who are frequent visitors to the house, whether to charge a cell phone or flash light, watch a movie, observe Kyle working away at the turbine and helping out when needed, or just sitting on the porch and talking and joking (most of the jokes we still don't fully understand but we're working on it!). Living with three young girls has been interesting as well. For the first month or so it took a lot to get used to three chattering, early-rising, endlessly energetic, chavalas (kids) but now we've learned to be tranquilo and just go with the flow. The girls pretty much have all the freedom they want and they really take advantage of it by going off and collecting mangos, jocotes (a delicious apple-like fruit abundantly grown in the area), and cashews, or visiting their mamitas (grandmothers), and swimming in the estuary. It so different from the children of Canada and the US where the safety of the children is constantly fretted about, and mostly prevents children from having fun. Venecia feels really safe to us, and the community prides itself on this safety in contrast to other cities in Nicaragua, and even nearby Jiquilillo and Mechapa.



We've gone to many community events such as dances, birthday parties, baseball games and even a cock fight. Everyone loves to come out to these and enjoy themselves and we like tagging along.
On the topic of dances we have one coming up that we're very excited about! As mentioned before Jhoxary's birthday party is coming up on the 16th of April and we're hosting the fiesta at the house. Ramón and Jessenia have been talking about this party pretty much since October so we've been planning it for a long time. We're bringing in giant speakers from Chinandega so we can have a dance for all of Venecia. We bought a ternero, which could be described as a teenage cow, to feed all our guests, along with ample bread, rice, and Coca Cola. Ramón's sister is going to make some great business that night by selling some Toñas, the local beer, as well as Caballito, the local (but horrible tasting) rum. We still have to get a piñata for Jhoxary and the kids, as well as loot bags. We've constructed a casita for the dance with the help of some of Jessenia's family. She has 14 brothers and sisters, as well as about 30 cousins, so there's always help when we need it. We're anxious to get back to Venecia soon to begin cleaning up the house and surrounding land to make it look especially nice for our guests. About 80 invitations went out so we're expecting about 300 people or so! We'll be sure to update with pictures after the event. Not only is the party on the Sunday but Semana Santa begins on Monday and is basically a week-long party for all of Nicaragua. We will be quite "busy" these next coming days.


Now, as for the turbines:


Kyle has been working like crazy on his newest turbine, the M2. He is still sticking with the sail blade design but has improved it by making the shape more flexible like an actual sail on a sailboat. Other major changes have been the use of steel as opposed to wood, and Kyle learning how to weld in the process. None of that would have been possible without the help of our friend, Grant Warga, and his knowledge. Grant came down on March 10th to help Kyle with this turbine and this help proved indispensable. In approximately three weeks they were able to build a superior turbine in many ways to the first turbine, which took 10 weeks! All of the materials, minus the sails, for the M2 were found in the numerous ferreterías of Chinandega. Kyle estimates that he and Grant went to about 20 different hardware stores to find everything, but they did indeed find them. Everyday they were hard at work in the new workshop area, which friends of ours aiding in the constructing once again. The new casita is a great improvement over the back porch --  the primary location of work during the last trip down. Also proving to be a great improvement was the use of the generator for their power tools and especially the welder. It was always a great annoyance hearing the high pitched warning sound of the inverter when Kyle or Lucas used the drill for 30 seconds. Although they were able to erect the turbine and see it spin quite quickly, they were not able to fully complete the turbine before Grant had to return to Canada, and us to Costa Rica. However Kyle is anxious to finish this turbine and start generating electricity as soon as we return to Venecia! The smile on his face when it started spinning was awesome to see and we'll be posting videos soon so you can see for yourselves as well. The new sail design works so unbelievably well that we believe this will open up unlimited opportunities for us.


Kyle has another publication coming out soon in the International Journal of Environmental Studies on the development of turbines for rural electrification in Nicaragua so that is also very exciting.
Soon he will begin work on another document the new sail blade design on the M2 to affirms its unique operating principle.


Tomorrow we're off to El Castillo which is located on the Rio San Juan in Nicaragua. Julian has a friend there who is interested in a turbine for his property so we're going to make an assessment of the area and determine its feasibility for a turbine.


All and all, things are good and are only looking up! We plan on returning to Canada in July but before then there is much work to do, and a new climate to look forward to as the rainy season begins in May. It will be our first rainy season in Nicaragua so that will definitely be interesting. I hope to start planting many trees, flowers, and fruits and vegetables so that will consume much of our time. However, we will try to update this blog a lot more often and make it an actual real blog with updates for anyone who's interested.


¡Dale pues!


Jessica & Kyle

Vamos a Regresar a Nicaragua Mañana

So today is the big day. We leave at about 3 am for the Detroit airport and are flying out at 6 am. Today is a bit of a scramble collecting any final materials or supplies we may need over the next few months. I'll be picking up some flange bearings, loop terminal connections, and some 10 AWG wire. It always seems the case when dealing with this project that when in doubt -- buy two of everything. It was comical the number of times during our last stay down there that we would be short two tiny items like washers or bolts and would have to wait until we returned to Chinandega to purchase more.

So our plan is to arrive in Managua around 1 pm and catch a local bus to Chinandega where we will stay the night at our favorite hotel San Cristobal. Then we'll run around the city the next day collecting food, building materials, and household items. It will be nice to see the confused faces of the men working at the hardware stores once again - for anyone who hasn't been to a Nica hardware store before they are fantastic -- exactly the way a hardware store should be. You can find virtually anything you would need for building and there is only one aisle. Hundreds of items zip-tied to the walls from tools to wire connections its all there.

Anyways, wish us luck as we pack our bags and prepare for the second term of work at the Venecia Wind Energy Research Center.

¡Vamanos!

       The Venecia Wind Energy Research Centre, or VWERC, began in October of 2010. Named after the remote village of its location, the centre recently undertook a project involving the construction and use of an affordable, practical vertical-axis wind turbine that will eventually power a charging station for the residents of Venecia, Nicaragua.

       Venecia is located in the department of Chinandega in the northwestern area of the country. The picturesque departamento is comprised of rolling lowlands, volcanoes, and estuaries. The village of Venecia, approximately 75 families in size, is located adjacent to the Padre Ramos estuary which contains an ecosystem that is crucial for the migration and breeding of over one hundred species of birds, and is home to numerous other species.

      The extremely remote location of Venecia enables the area to retain its pristine environment and viability for sustainable agriculture. However, this remoteness has greatly limited the potential for connecting to the national grid of electricity. Rather than perpetually wait for a connection to this expensive and unreliable power grid, a group of young Canadians have an answer to the dilemma of providing affordable, reliable, and clean electricity -- wind turbines.

      The Canadians are four recent graduates from the University of Windsor, consisting of various academic disciplines: mechanical & civil engineering, business, and history & music.  We had ventured to Venecia at the beginning of October and remained in the country for 71 days. When we were not touring other parts of Nicaragua we were able to live in a friend's house that was recently built near the beach. We eventually designated this house the temporary headquarters of the research centre. We are very grateful to our friend for the use of this house, as its position in the heart of Venecia has enabled us to become quite immersed in the community and has made this project entirely more possible.

       During those 71 days a vertical-axis wind turbine was built, erected, and observed to be fully-functional when connected to the existing off-grid system at the house. Unfortunately due to our schedules we had to return to Canada before extensive testing could be complete. However, as of January 12th, 2011 two of the Canadians -- Kyle Bassett and Jessica Mills, are returning to Venecia to complete more testing, research, and construction. All the while we hope to keep enjoying life, Nicaraguan style!