Thanks to Vivek Mundkur 
for these photos from the heart of the Himalayas.
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- Ecosphere’s Eco challenge: With the great Buddhist mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” , inscribed on the blades in Tibetan script, the windmill at Komic Monastery , in the Himalayas is up and running!!! We set up 4 solar lighting systems in as many days. two of them are hybrids: one uses wind energy and another, a pedal generator. At 14800 ft altitude we needed all the help we could get from enthusiastic monks, villagers and the 5 volunteer from Pune/Thane !!!! Possibly the highest such installations in the world. We are checking…
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- The volunteer solar engineers all set to light up the village — with Afzal Amdani.
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- eco adventurers hoist the windmill at the world’s highest Tibetan Monastery. Is it not better than hoisting a flag on top of Mt Everest
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- Afzal holds the blades like his baby. He is a calligrapher, who helped to write the beautiful script on the blades.
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- At 15000 ft altitude, far above the treeline, Komic in Spiti district of Himacha…l Pradesh, is one of the highest human settlements in the world. It is to be electrified with a windmill, pedal generator and some solar panels.
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- windmill picks up speed as the monks watch
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- monks checking out the pedal generator which will light up the main temple and kitchen
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- Sunil Chauhan is all smiles to see the solar lights coming on in the village
Do the temperatures at those altitudes have much impact on turbine performance?
I found that there was no appreciable change in performance at 15000 ft. The increase in density due to cooler air temperature seemed to compensate for lower density at that altitude.
But this is a hunch. It needs to be checked with accurate instruments.
Thanks for this post. It was helpful for my research.
Terrific post ! The wind plant should reduce some of the pressure on yak butter as electric lights replace yak butter lamps. There is plenty of food, already being diverted to energy already.