Turkish Students in Folkecenter for Learning about Solar & Wind

By Daniele Pagani. På Dansk (oversættelse: Trine Sund Kammersgaard)

Since some years we welcome groups of VET[1] students from Türkiye, who come to Folkecenter to learn about renewable energy. For them, it is a chance to experience a new culture and to learn the basics of these technologies, which will be integral part of their work. For us, it is a possibility to reach (and to get to know) people also from remote areas of this huge country, which is Türkiye.

This year we already had the pleasure to welcome one group, consisting of 10 students and two teachers, from the Urla Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi School in Izmir. The mobility took place between the 6th and the 24th of March and it focused mostly on solar energy.

During their stay in Folkecenter, the group had first an introduction to the facilities and to renewable energies in general, after which we explained them the basic theory behind solar energy; we know that theory can be boring, so we tried to include some practical examples and some exercises, which they had to carry out in groups and which helped them better understand the topic.

Once the basics were in place, the students were divided in groups and had to build a small PV panel out of some solar cells: that meant, first to check the quality of the cells and to calculate their expected production, then to connect them in the most suitable way and finally to test them under the artificial sun (a special lamp devoted for that purpose).

After the practical part, they got introduced to the other relevant components of a solar installation: inverters, monitoring systems and batteries, to explain which we used the Smart Strawbale house in Folkecenter.

Finally, the remaining time was used to learn the basics of wind energy and to build blades out of wood. We hope the students could benefit from the program and that they will, from now on, look at renewable energies in a more interested way.


[1] Vocation Education Training