On Monday the 25th we got up early and took off by bus to DTU where we were greeted by the head researcher and the head of the whole operation. We were given lectures by three different persons. The first lecture consisted of just a quick overview of the benifits of wind energy and it being a renewable resource. The second lecture was about the placement of the wind turbines in certain geographical locations. They came up with a program to estimate a certain wind climate at a certain location. And the final lecture was about the actual electrical components to the whole system, from batteries to the actual turbines. After a quick tour of their facility we then treated ourselves to a free lunch that they provided of meats, cheeses, and breads. A kind of meal that fit in with the culture of the area (It was pretty good). Then we headed to the testing facility of the turbine blades and saw a massive blade and another lecture on the actual blades. After seeing the blade we left DTU and Bo (our tour guide and friend of prof. Imbertson) brought us to a Viking shipyard. After a quick tour of the boats we had to wish Bo goodbye for the trip. When we got back to the hotel some of the students decided to go over to Sweden for a day trip. They took a 30 min train ride to Malmo and toured the city.
Today the 26th of May we got up early and hopped on a train that was leaving Copenhagen and heading to Aalborg. It was about a 4.5 hour ride on the train and we arrived in the city at around 1:00ish and then headed to the Siemens turbine blade factory. We got a tour of the plant, consisting from the molding of the blades to the final coating of paint. Despite the fact that we all knew the blades were huge, we could not comprehend exactly what "HUGE" meant until we saw the blades in person. Some of these blades can range up to 52 meters...thats about 175 feet! For a better mental picture, that is about 3.5 times the length of an Olympic swimming pool! And after the tour we headed to our Hotel for the stay and relaxed the rest of the day.
