What's Happening at Forfar Station on Andros, Bahamas

I'm headed off to Andros Island, Bahamas for the next 5 weeks where I'll be teaching a class for Hocking College. The course is part of the Alternative Energy program and the students and I will look at four technology areas: Wind, Solar PV, Solar Thermal, and Micro Hydro. For me this is a change from my day job for Dovetail Solar and Wind where I work as Dovetails project manager for Southwest Ohio. Many thanks to Dovetail for granting me some time off to do this work, and escape the Ohio winter.

Our big project for the 5 week term will be the installation of a Skystream 3.7 wind turbine on a 70 foot tilt up tower. In addition we will also do some work on the existing solar hot water heating and PV systems at ForFar Station. Where is Forfar ?

It has been a great deal of work just to get ready for this trip. I'm used to coordinating projects locally but it adds a whole new dimension to orchestrate one that is located 1500 miles away. One thing we will have to deal with is limited availability of hardware on the island. In Cincinnati, where I'm based, we have all the big box stores (Lowes, Home Depot) etc, and hundreds of specialty suppliers. Not so on the island, so I've tried to make sure we have everything we will need once we get there. We shall see :D

Today I will pack my tools, and the last few bits of miscellaneous hardware to take with me. I'm a real believer in packing light so this trip will be a big exception. I expect my checked luggage will weigh in excess of 200 lbs. Ugghhh!

I fly Friday to Ft Lauderdale, and then on to Andros on Saturday. I'll meet the students again and will post again with more info on them and the class as it unfolds at Forfar.