TheBattery

After a short day of project work at Farel College we got on the bus again. This time we were headed for Almere.

Almere sits in a part of the Netherlands which actually is below sea level, and just 30 years ago was submerged in water.

We visited the company Alfen. Alfen started out producing power transformers, but seeing the potential difficulties that todays power grid will be faced with when “every” household will have their own power source, they have branched out and are now producing large battery packs.

We’re talking huge batteries, able to power a whole music festival. The batteries can also be used for local power regulation and storage of surplus electrical energy from solar cells and windmills.

The students got a quick tour of the factory, and then we headed out to take a closer look on the wind turbines in the area.

At the wind turbines we met a representative from a group of citizens who were looking into buying their own wind turbines. This seemed, at first, a bit strange to the stutents, but we later appreciated the initiative the group showed, and how this could be an example for us, and future generations to follow.