More Photos and Final Thoughts

I'm finally back at school, and I'm already missing my WindAid family. The people I met in Peru, from all over the world, really made this trip so enjoyable. We all had our quirks, and habits, and exceptional personalities that really blended well with each other. I wish everyone the best of luck going forward and I look forward to hearing about everyone's lives in the future. I hope we meet again one day!

My thoughts on the trip overall: definitely met my expectations. I talked with the right people and really had an excellent idea of what to expect while I was down there. We essentially built a wind turbine, manufactured replacement wind turbine parts, and installed it, all while getting a taste of Peruvian culture. Despite truly enjoying all of the wind turbine manufacturing, construction and installation, I really enjoyed all of the Peruvian culture I experienced in Trujillo, Cajamarca, Huaraz and even Playa Blanca. We packed so much into four weeks and I'm so glad I spent my winter break volunteering and experiencing another culture.

I would absolutely recommend this program to anyone who is interested and inclined to work in an engineering setting in a foreign country. I learned an overwhelming amount of information on wind turbine manufacturing, engineering, and construction. I was able to help with some R&D at times and also got to see all the ups and downs of installing and manufacturing in a foreign country. I would also recommend programs like this to other students, even if it isn't this program specifically. There are plenty of opportunities available to students in foreign countries doing similar humanitarian work. It's incredibly rewarding to be able to give someone the gift of electricity and see their faces as you "light up their life".

I really would like to take this opportunity to again thank everyone who supported me on this trip. Thank you to the offices at SUNY Canton, my professors at SUNY Canton, Tom Woodside, and my family and friends who all knew this trip was a dream of mine to attend. I'm so grateful to have such support behind me and to know so many people are willing to help make a difference in a student's life and educational goals.

I'm officially signing off. Thanks for following my adventure! If you're interested in any other information, or photos, feel free to contact me directly and I'd be happy to share more of my experience with you! ~ Jessica

Please enjoy some more photos from my journey! (Sorry for them being out of order)

Stator before it was fully cast in resin

Pouring resin in the stator

The controls box inside the house our wind turbine
was installed in

The replacement wind turbine was
installed on Wednesday of week 4

The blade assembly of our first installed
wind turbine at a scallop farm

Group photo of WindAid team and some community members

Observing the vacuum and gravity system that pulls resin
through the blade mold to coat the foam core, carbon fiber
and fiberglass blade with resin

Sanding the resin on the Stator

Making sure the blade mold is airtight and ready
for resin by sealing gaps with hot glue

Helping gravity pull the resin through the
vacuum system 

Drilling the center hole through the Stator

Painting the blade, first with primer, then with a white finish

Sanding and shaping the blade

Balancing the unpainted blade

The view from a tour we took in Cajamarca

Our ride to Playa Blanca, the first time!

View at the Pastoruri Glacier

Me and a wind turbine blade

Digging a meter hole for the concre foundation

Update on This Past Week and Departure

This past week was incredible! After our last day in the shop, we headed to Huaraz to do some exploring on our final weekend in Peru. We then finished off the trip with our installation in Playa Blanca. See the below videos!

First, we headed to Huaraz by bus on Friday morning. We arrived in the evening and met one of the Peruvians from the shop in town because he happened to be going to Pastoruri to do some checking up on the wind turbine we were already going to visit. Saturday, we went up to Pastoruri to visit the Guinness World Records Tallest Installed Wind Turbine that WindAid installed back in 2013. We helped the guy from the shop troubleshoot the issue, and then went up to the glacier that was a walk away. Sunday, we hiked to Laguna 69, which was very difficult due to the intense elevation increase and altitude adjustments. We left Huaraz Sunday night and arrived back in Trujillo at 5am to catch a 7:30am bus to Playa Blanca for our final week of installation!

Huaraz Day 1: (Duration: 3:42)
https://youtu.be/WsbuQ7UCe30

Huaraz Day 2 - Pastoruri (Duration: 5:18)
https://youtu.be/ENwkmSJad74

Huaraz Day 3 - Laguna 69 (Duration: 1:52)
https://youtu.be/spqCtBDJT3Q

In our final week in Playa Blanca, we got a lot accomplished! Monday we just set up and acclimated ourselves to the environment once again. Tuesday we installed our wind turbine, which took a lot longer than anticipated due to some unforeseen difficulties. Wednesday we got to work on workshop advancements and turbine base support installations (I was put in charge of working on reinforced concrete slab design this day!). Thursday we replaced the wind turbine which had fallen down previously due to tower rot or termite damage. Friday we departed for Trujillo so we could all catch our flights and buses out of Peru.

Playa Blanca Day 1: (Duration: 2:01)
https://youtu.be/BgbUE9epW-c

Playa Blanca Day 2: (Duration: 3:19)
https://youtu.be/POoem9Eb5Tw

Playa Blanca Day 3: (Duration: 5:17)
https://youtu.be/hPS13VhQGjM

Playa Blanca Day 4: (Duration: 7:37)
https://youtu.be/G6SSWirpTFc

Playa Blanca Day 5: (Duration: 2:07)
https://youtu.be/Q1iRYKJj03s

At this point, I'm home and tired from traveling. I'll recap things within the next few days and give some final thoughts. Overall, I'm super excited I went and could help bring the lights to a community in need!

Final Day in the Shop

Today was the final day in the shop for those who aren't taking a weekend trip!

Sanding the blade

I started out today sanding one of our blades. This blade had a resin, fiberglass mixture to it and needed to be shaped! This included shaping the leading edge and the trailing edge of the wind turbine blade. It was fun I spent most of the morning on this task and the once lunch time came around, I changed tasks.

After lunch, I helped with turning some more coils and watched a blade be balanced.

Blade balancing test

To balance the blade, it is mounted to a typical tower set up and spun. While spinning, we look for imbalances that indicate one side is heavier than the other. In our case, there was one that was heavier than the other. We then proceeded to add some washers to the part of the blade that was under weight. Adding washers, with tape, and moving them around occasionally helped create a guide to balance the blade. Once the blade was balanced, a hole was drilled in the place of the washers and filled with a lead material of the same weight as the washers.

Also, today was time to make the wind turbine tail which includes a WindAid sticker on a board. I didn't participate in making this, but it was super cool.

Wind turbine tail

It was a bittersweet day in the shop because we will not be back to that shop anymore. This also means we are 3/4 of the way done with the program which is pretty sad. However, we have big plans for the weekend and then in Playa Blanca all next week.

My new timeline is as follows: travel to Huaraz this weekend. While in Huaraz, hike to the Guinness World Records Tallest Installed Wind Turbine that WindAid Installed in 2013. This wind turbine is located at 4,882 meters above sea level (Trujillo is at 30ish meters above sea level). While there, we will also visit the Pastoruri Glacier, one of the only tropical glaciers I'll likely see in my life. The next day we will visit Laguna 69, a glacier fed lake that is a bright blue turquoise color. We leave for Huaraz at 9:30am tomorrow and arrive back to Trujillo at 5am on Monday morning. From there, we depart for Playa Blanca on another bus at 7am. When we finish our installation and other maintenance in Playa Blanca, we will depart at a TBD time Friday to return and be able to get people to the airport to get flights out. I depart at 11pm on Friday for an 11am arrival in Toronto on Saturday. This means I won't be able to post any of my video logs until Saturday 01/28/2017 in the late afternoon or evening. I'm assuming I'll sleep most of Saturday when I return, so stay tuned until then.

Thanks for following along so far! The next few days are going to be exhaustive, but I'm super excited to keep exploring Peru! Until next Saturday, Adios!

Videos Finally, Stator Work From Home

Yay! The videos finally uploaded! Sorry for such a delay!

The first four videos are from Playa Blanca, including travel and maintenance work over the four days. The last two videos are from a weekend trip to Cajamarca to see a waterfall and some historical sites. It was an exhaustive last week because we took a 7 hour bus ride to Playa Blanca and then once we returned (after another 7 hour bus ride), we had about an hour and a half to get back to the bus station to catch an overnight bus to Cajamarca. We returned from Cajamarca Monday morning at 5am and then went back to work at 9am!

Playa Blanca Videos:
Day 1: (Duration: 3:05)
https://youtu.be/-Mx0W0fpQXk
Day 2: (Duration: 8:23)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3esQhfbE4o
Day 3: (Duration: 5:18)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q8AmaRfQWc
Day 4: (Duration: 2:58)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmiQ-lGbU-g

Cajamarca videos:
Day 5: (Duration: 2:26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxjLtx4imy4
Day 6: (Duration: 3:07)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r6zfPKx74A

For today (1/18/2017): I stayed back today. My fever was still prevalent, but I'm feeling a lot better as of right now (2pm). I asked for some work to do while here at the house in between resting and hydrating, and I was tasked with looking up a stator equation and once I find it, to plug it into excel so we can play with number of turns per coil and gauge wire that is best and other factors as well. WindAid is trying to perfect the stator more because it seems to be under performing. It's quite a fun task because I've been working on the stator the last few days, so I kind of know what I'm looking for. Also, my excel skills will be put to good use. Experience from those excel problems Dr. Craig gave me in class will really come in handy as well!

Despite the sickness, I'm still having lots of fun and learning a ton!

Sick Again, Videos Still Delayed

I was very sick yesterday (1/17/2017). I left the shop early around 3pm and slept until dinner, ate dinner and slept until now. I'm feeling a bit better, but I had a high fever and sever exhaustion (I was falling asleep while at lunch and sitting in the shop).

The videos are still giving be problems, so I will do my best to try and keep uploading them and will repost them when I get a chance. Very sorry for the inconvenience. I didn't think it would be this difficult.

Update on the Past Week and 01/16/2017!

As of 2pm on 1/18/2017, day 2-4 and 6 links do not work. See blog for 1/18/2017 for updated links.

As of 7am on 1/17/2017, only day 1 and day 5 videos have uploaded to youtube. The others have links, but the videos aren't ready yet. I hope they finish loading today! Feel free to try out the links in the afternoon, and sorry for the delay! YouTube hasn't been verycooperative.

The following videos are of my travels to and within Playa Blanca which is our installation community next week. We did some turbine maintenance there for four days.

Day 1: (Duration: 3:05)
https://youtu.be/-Mx0W0fpQXk

Day 2: (Duration: 8:23)
https://youtu.be/LIQEUc4fyZw

Day 3: (Duration: 5:18)
https://youtu.be/Qj19PmE2qNY

Day 4: (Duration: 2:58)
https://youtu.be/pLXk2K_QUx4

The following videos are of my exploration to Cajamarca to do some sight seeing. We got off the bus from Playa Blanca at 8pm and then got back to the house to eat and pack for Cajamarca which was more of a cooler and wetter climate than the dusty area of Playa Blanca. We left for Cajamarca at 9:30pm, so we only had a small window to change and then catch our bus.

Day 5: (Duration: 2:26)
https://youtu.be/TxjLtx4imy4

Day 6: (Duration: 3:07)
https://youtu.be/35FEfvDzK7I

Today was a shop day! We got a late start to the day because we had a morning meeting. I spent the day working on sanding the stator and also testing the stator. Our rotor that had the resin issue last week didn't set, so we had to scrap that rotor. We also just started constructing a new rotor to replace the one that didn't set. Welding continued and there was plenty to do!

Sanding the stator

One of the girls from Australia is using this program as a class project for her final year in the university she's attending. Her research project is to examine the strength differences in a rotor with carbon fiber (which is what we currently use) and a rotor without carbon fiber. This is an especially important project to conduct because carbon fiber is the most expensive component of these wind turbines and has to be imported.

We also did some women in STEM empowerment video shooting today! We have more girls than guys in this program, so one of the volunteer coordinators wanted to make an empowerment video to post on social media encouraging women all over to pursue STEM careers. We also said it in Spanish in the hopes some Peruvian girls will feel empowered. WE had a volunteer here for a few days who came specifically to take some photographs of our group and conduct the video shoot during our program.

Quick Update

I am alive still!

I'll be posting six videos either via YouTube or embedded here. The videos won't be more than 10 minutes in length and will encompass the day's activities. I'm still working on uploading them, but stay tuned!

I likely won't post them all until the morning as they are taking some time to download. Sorry for the delay!