For the last 4 months Stephanie's cousin Theo and I have been researching ways to use renewable energy on the Campus. Early on we decided that wind energy was going to be a good place to start because we have lots of wind at the Campus and it is much more cost effective than photovoltaic panels. We began researching and learning as much as we could so that in August we could install the first part of our renewable energy system.

We decided to go with Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) because they are more efficient and take up less space on the roof. We headed down to Costa Rica in August 4th and began construction right away. We wanted to be able to build as much of the turbines as we could from local materials so we spent some time at the hardware store making our lists and somewhat inventing as we went. We purchased 2 generators here in the states to bring down and so far they have been perfect for our application. We ended up building 2 identical 6 ft. VAWT's and mounted them to the roof the Training Center building. They sit about 35 ft. off the ground and have great access to the wind that comes blowing down from the mountain above.

Our setup is going to be a closed system for the time being and will power 3 rack mounted servers that control the network at the Campus. We also have 4 200ah 6volt batteries in series and parallel providing backup power when there isn't enough wind to run the system by itself. We've also tied into the main building power to suppliment the system if there isn't enough wind, especially during those calmer months. Unfortunately we weren't able to quite finish setting everything up and ran into a small electrical problem that fried out inverter. In the meantime we've left the turbines on the roof to record important data about what they are capable of producing so we can evaluate their effectiveness in the overall setup. Theo and I will be returnin in December after the rainy season to modify the turbines slightly and finish hooking up the electrical system.

In future phases of the project we hope to incorporate solar panels to compliment the system during those calmer times and possibly install a grid-tie inverter allowing us to power the rest of the building from what is being produced and selling back to the utility company an extra that we don't use.

For more pictures of the project and to see the video click on "Ministry Pics"

If you are interested in donating towards the development of this project please let me know. - Brian