ChrisFish

Some explanation of the science and engineering You Tube: Engineering with Rosie

Content from ENERGIZE Publication "Chair of the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA), Mercia Grimbeek welcomed local and international wind energy industry members and sector stakeholders to the tenth annual international wind industry conference – Windaba 2021 – marking a decade of wind power in South Africa. Under the theme, ‘Renaissance of the Wind Energy Industry – Delivering Economic Benefits for SA’, the industry has matured to the point that it is ready and able to build an additional 14,4 GW of wind power capacity over the next decade, to constitute a fair share of the country’s total power system, a vision which is being discussed over the next two days at the Windaba conference. " Wind-powers-role-sa-economy The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) I wonder where the "small" private / home wind energy producers fit into the picture ?

Greetings , I have had a look through the topics / posts here and thought that I would add a little something extra Jason did point out the South African Wind Atlas -- there is however something of a convoluted procedure to assess the information Not to mention the VERY confusing website WASA Project It is perhaps a bit easier just to go to here to GIS at Elsenburg Wind_Atlas ( Map Server) Their Cape Farm Mapper is also very useful; Cape Farm Mapper People have mentioned Weather reporting sites which normally do include wind speed and wind direction Many of these are however at the "Macro" level and I just wonder how accurate they are for specific local areas ? Even the SA Wind Atlas is not completely accurate when their figures are compared with weather station data Does anyone have a list of private weather stations / know where to find such a listing ? I am interested in historical wind speed and direction for a specific area in the Karoo - ( where there are already industrial wind farms and more planned ) for at least a year , longer being better. Failing that I guess I need to go and set up my own anemometer / weather station. Can anyone suggest the best brands / devices ? I understand that there are commercial companies already selling in this space so no offense there -- competition is healthy they tell us ... There are two handy DIY sites I found 3kW off-grid Turbine I believe the author of the link below has been on the site in this forum Wind Turbine I have some ideas similar to "DeepBass9" to mount one of these modern axial-flux generators on top of a windmill ( windpomp ) using the structure / scaffold and wheel / fan / rotor of the windmill but losing the old original gearbox and crank system. Rather using some form of direct drive ( longer shaft with multiple heavy duty bearings ) Does anyone have the specs / figures for size of wheel / speed / output / torque etc for SA standard windmills ? In advance -- thanks for any suggestions / assistance

Yes indeed thanks Tunnels ( some form of solar structure ) was / is very much part of the bigger / wider plan I understand the "greenhouse" effect of a tunnel under plastic. I am however not sure how much the tunnel contributes to the stability of the water temperature ? Especially at night I have looked at Passive Solar greenhouses along the lines of the Chinese model -- a more conventional construction than a tunnel These can still provide heat even at night. I am not too concerned about this area as there is a lot of solid information available -- it was the SOLAR heating of the water side of things that is still a bit murky I have not been able to find any research material that applies specifically to the use of renewable energy sources for South African fresh water Aquaculture. ? WHAT are our Universities doing ?

Thanks for suggestions Yes I haver read those articles -- they are a bit old and speak about flat plate collectors I think technology has moved on a bit since then ? This would be a small pilot "green-field" construction to see if any ideas / implementations might have potential ? I envisaged a large run of black agricultural tubing for pre-heating and feeding this into a closed loop EV tube system using a thermal fluid ( above 120C -- or more ) running through a stainless steel heat exchanger system to feed a large very well insulated thermal storage tank ( all by gravity mainly and solar powered pump ) Using the analogy of a battery I would keep on feeding ( charging ) the thermal storage tank hot water until it was able to maintain a constant flow at a regulated temperature. I am also thinking of using small mouth bass as the farm [ed] species as they are more temperature tolerant than Tilapia , grow just as well and are more "tasty" Those at least are currently the ideas

Good day and Greetings As title suggests I am busy reading / researching Solar heating -- beyond residential use -- for the heating / maintaining of a constant temperature in an Aquaculture system ( RAS ) I guess this is somewhat akin to swimming pool heating but the temperature required is a steady 27 - 30C I would like to try and do this using solar ( "off the grid" ) as much as possible I have been watching a number of You Tube vids and believe I understand the basics and have a lot of ideas -- but there is still a lot to work out I am hoping there may be a few old time "gurus" here that can give advice / suggestions -- perhaps some that even have systems of their own ? Looking forward to learning and contributing Chris