It's Not Easy Being Afghanistan's First Wind Farm
by Jennifer Hattam, Istanbul, Turkey 
on 11.22.08
Afghan security forces watch over a new wind farm in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Paul David Ondik.
Over the past few years, there’s been a lot of promising talk about bringing renewable energy to developing countries. Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, a generally windy region where less than a quarter of the population has access to electricity, must have seemed like an obvious place for a wind farm. But little seems to be easy these days in Afghanistan, even in one of its safer regions.
As Al Jazeera reports this week, the new mountaintop installation--surrounded by hundreds of old Soviet land mines--was supposed to bring power and hot water to the local governor's new office. But its operation already been crippled by the accidental severing of a power line during road-construction work. The governor's office is using a diesel generator instead, while poor villagers continue to light their homes with oil lamps.
The reporter seems to be enjoying a bit of schadenfreude at the expense of the American government, which spent almost $1 million on the project, one of the green-energy initiatives it touted as helping "move Afghanistan forward." Still, the shots of the rushing Panjshir River, and his laments that locals don't have enough money for turbines to convert its flow to energy, show that there is potential for renewable power here--it just comes with more than the usual obstacles. Via: AlJazeera
More on wind power around the world:
2.4 Gigawatts More Wind Power Being Developed in Inner Mongolia
Wind Power Enters Argentinean Energy Grid
On Danish Isle Of Samsø Wind Power Is The Heart Of Carbon Neutral
Germany Targets 125000 Megawatts Of Wind Power By 2030
Chinese Wind Power Set For Big Expansion
Norwegian Wind Power Could Become Europe's Battery
New Wind Power Record in Spain: 40.8% of Total Demand!
Wind Energy Could Power All of Britain's Homes by 2020
Connecting the World's Wind Farms
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Holter Graham Visits the Future: Wind Farms Across the Midwest
- Are You at Risk From Wind Turbine Syndrome?
- College Students Bring Low-Cost Solar and Wind Drip Irrigation to Developing Nations
- Forget Going Green Because It's the Right Thing to Do—Go Green to Make Your Neighbors Jealous
- Holter Visits the Homestead National Monument of America, Thinks Your Should Too
- 7 Essential Green Beauty Items For Under $7
There are nearly one million solar/dynamo am/fm/sw radios in Afghanistan distributed by US and NATO forces since before the invasion. These solar/dynamos charge only the dedicated internal hardwired batteries but could easily be modified to charge AA, C, or D batteries. They could become a reliable source of low voltage DC power day or night, through sunlight or muscle power. With a system of battery switching, they could become a "sneaker net" grid for many homes and villages in Afghanistan.
There is already a renewable infrastructure in Afghanistan but nobody, yet, seems to recognize it.
Unfortunately, the picture shows the worst kind of wind turbines, exhibiting two problems: first, scaffolding-style towers that can be used as bird perches or nesting platforms and attract birds into a potentially deadly turbine area, instead of tubular towers which can't be used by birds. Second, guy wires that birds often collide with, instead of free-standing towers without guy wires. Hopefully, they will adopt smarter technology and locate the turbines in areas where birds and bats are less likely to be impacted.
no matter what type of scientific evidence nor what type of structure you build, NIMBY's will come up with a reason to not like wind towers; this mood is especially prevalent among second home owners who don't want their aesthetics affected....at the earth's benefit...there is no amount of common sense that would persuade some people we are at a tipping point; when it is too late, it is too late...not go back and analyze things some more or change your position, etc....why don't people understand??? maybe it will take the current bark beetle and other infestations caused by climate change and global warming to destroy all our forests...for some to say "gee I guess wind farms aren't so bad after all"...
you have to look at utility lines every day right next to you and I bet nobody even notices them....get a clue, people....