Carapacho – 500 RPM

Location: Carapacho, Malargüe, Argentina
Date of Installation: September 2013

• Installation of a 700W turbine for a school and funded by the local government.
• The school is supported by a technical school in a nearbv city and since both received training on maintenance and repair, the support team is large and strong

Equipment installed	Turbine: 700W Piggott type (locally manufactured) System components: – Neo magnets – 2 deep-cycle 12Vx150A.h batteries (locally manufactured) – 1500W inverter (imported) – 60A Morningstar Inverter (imported)
Energy Demand	By the school for general purposes: mainly Wi-Fi, computers, phone, projector, lights.
Financing	The school receives general financial assistance from the local government, which covers the fuel for the diesel generator, and now covers minor expenses for damaged parts to the wind turbine.
Ownership & Management	Community-based: the school teachers and students are in charge of the operation and maintenance. If they cannot solve it on their own, the technical school that built the wind turbine (in a city nearby) can help with these things, for example repairing a damaged blade or making anew one. 500RPM can give remote assistance if needed. So far, the wind turbine has performed well.
Problems & Solutions	The main problem was the local logistics: how to take the wind turbine and tower built in the city to the rural area. We had neglected this issue, and we only found a local transport that would do it in the last minute.
Highlights	This project was very successful in all of the stages: The wind resource is very good, the need for electricity was very high because they only used the diesel generator for a few hours a day (very restricted by the government who supplied it), so now they have a parallel electricity circuit to feed the computers, phone and router, and they can now use these things almost all the time. The wind turbine was manufactured locally, in a city nearby, together with a technical school that has the infrastructure and previous knowledge required, and also a strong social commitment, so a bond was created between the two institutions (technical and rural), for future collaboration on the maintenance of the wind turbine and other projects. Members of the two institutions carried out the installation, together, and the trainings on the operation and maintenance of the equipment were given to both, so that the “maintenance team” is large and strong. The project was completed on time and the wind turbine is performing very well since the installation.

Video available at https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=525208244232940&set=vb.155759391177829&type=3&video_source=pages_video_set

To find more about 500 RPM and their projects go to http://windempowerment.org/257/