Another maintenance action has been performed. This time on the oldest turbine of our population, which is now nearly 2 years of age. The wind turbine is installed at the test facility of TaTEDO in the hills of Dar Es Salaam (Mbezi Juu). Because this turbine is the first, small things differ from the majority of all turbines. It is only after the fourth turbine or so, that all wind turbines build by I Love Windpower – Tanzania were standardized.
This explains why some extra care has to be taken. The maintenance on the turbine was successful. It should be noted that this turbine involves only half an hour of travel and can be reach by public transport which is incredible cheap. Hence, the travel costs (for people and repair materials) are nearly zero. Other turbines are installed in remote villages, which are much more difficult to reach. Therefore we strive that the locally educated participants can handle all maintenance and repair. If not, and when action from Dar Es Salaam is required, the penalty goes easily to hundreds of dollars on transport and travel time.
In conclusion, a repair can be extremely cheap in comparison to western countries, when making use of local people solving the problem with local knowledge and local materials. On the other hand, if a yet unknown issue pops up, solving that issue can be extremely expensive in comparison to western countries. Therefore, it will sound logical that our organization and many others within WindEmpowerment have maintenance very high on their agenda.