Community Stadium Illumination Research Using Renewable Energy

Stadium Lighting and Illumination is a major favorite for many engineers in the power or lighting fields. What if we spice that by saying that the lighting shall be provided by renewable energy sources and not heavy fuel generators?

This sounds crazy and at the same time interesting give the fact that stadiums are well known power hungry loads, so much that each nowadays has its own in-house sub-station.

This is very true and I would be hitting headlines in no time if I proposed to light a whole stadium with renewable energy. But this is not the case as of now, my main target is community based sports arenas that sadly can only be used during the day due to power problems.

Yesterday I happened to go and watch a football team during their usual practice at YMCA-Thika in Kenya. I have never seen the game played so well by eager youths who one day wanted to be in the big leagues. It was a good evening and the session went well. Sadly to my disappointment as the sun hid behind the clouds, the session was called to and end and all strolled for their stuff and headed home.How!!! Why should the sun dictate when we should work yet it has give us immense power and energy? (Solar & Wind Energy). Suppose the talented youth could train all night? They would be 20* better. YMCA-Thika could host floodlit events and also benefit by renting out the pitch.

It is for such reasons that I have embarked on a study/research to see how Community Stadium Illumination could help increase opportunity for youths in developing countries. The study will last 2months till end of August. I will post updates and pics as the study goes on. Let me go and talk to the management of YMCA-Thika before commencing further.

KPLC is now Kenya Power

 

With time come a change and that is why The Kenya Power & Lighting Company (as was previously known) is now simply, Kenya Power. Kenya Power is Kenya's largest power distribution company that feeds power to all places.

This corporate re-branding has come at a time when the company is undertaking some organization strategies to focus more on the customer and service delivery. I must say that the new logo is as they wanted, neat and clean.

The Logo Design Competition was a nationwide competition that attracted many designers with their unique designs of the logo to be, even me i had mine. This was last year (2010). The deadline came and all who wanted to participate had submitted. Still don't know who won, but congrats to him/her + their runners up. Though it had taken time but still good, worth the delay.

From KPLC website...

KPLC, which will now be known as Kenya Power, embarked on a corporate culture change and rebranding exercise in 2009 with the aim of transforming the distribution network in order to render more reliable and responsive services to customers and to sustain its good financial performance.

 According to Kenya Power Managing Director and CEO, Eng. Joseph Njoroge, the project entailed creation of a new organisational culture, a new logo, and a corporate brand which supports the company’s long term objectives and meets the increasing expectations of its customers.

In a presentation he made to guests during launch of the new brand at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Eng. Njoroge revealed that the company anticipates electricity demand to climb to 15,000 MW by the year 2030 owing to economic growth as envisioned by the government.

The Altamont Wind Farm

QUICK FACTS
Location: Alameda County, California, US
Maximum Output: 576MW
Annual Power Generation 1.1TWh
No of Turbines: 4,930
Installation Date: 1981
Condition: Good to Poor

Image:theage.com.au



 The Altamont wind farm, constructed in the 1980’s was at one time the largest wind farm in the world in terms of capacity. This farm was well known by the sheer number of bird mortality at the site. The farm is now one of the oldest wind farms in the US.

The wind farm is composed of many small wind turbines which are regarded as old since the station was constructed a long time ago. Many of these turbines are being replaced with better efficient wind machined which need not to spin fast for power generation. 40kW, 65kW -100kW is the range of most turbines in the pass, installed on metal lattices, while the 100kW are on tubular concrete towers.

The Altamont Wind farm is owned by almost a dozen companies. During the installation date, no clear Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was done in terms of how the turbines would interact with the wildlife and the result was the deadliest wind farm in the world, in terms of avian mortality.
Though the Altamont is known for its powerful wind speed, it is an important bird migration route, and its green-grass covered hills provide food for many species for raptors. The raptors and the federally protected Golden Eagles are killed annually. 4700 of these birds meet their demise in the wind farm annually.

10 Steps to install a small wind power project

Thinking of installing a domestic wind turbine?
Good, now read on....

Step1

Measure the electrical consumption of your domestic appliances in KWh

Step 2

Access your wind resource.

Step3

Head to the dealer and select a turbine and a tower basing your selection on the wind resource. The dealer will advice you.

Step4

Contact the municipal authority or council for laws or regulations that may hinder your project.

Step5

Make sure you have a permit to erect a structure beyond a certain limit so that it does not endanger your neighbours.

Step6

Contact the local utility power supply to sign feed-in grid tariff if any.

Step7

Obtain a license for the wiring done from your turbine to the tower and the grid. This can be arranged by the local utility company.

Step8

Time to order the parts including the turbine and generator.

Step9

Install the system

Step10

Commission the system, but you'll probably require a CERTIFIED Installer to do this. Then perform regular
maintenance on the system.Enjoy your system.