Site Surveying at Tah Po Pu

So what is the first step in planning a micro hydropower system? Go swimming! We certainly got our feet wet at Tah Po Pu, a Karen village in Tha Song Yan Province in northern Thailand. Upon our arrival, we were greeted with friendly handshakes and 'Tableu' from the adults, warm smiles from the children who, bursting with curiosity, followed us up the steep slope along the water fall to the weir site. The site we chose is about 36 meters above the powerhouse site and features large rocks and other ratures that may help us construct a sturdy cement weir. We brought along our trusty water-resistant notebook, a 100-meter measuring tape, a shorter measuring tape, a stopwatch, and our inquiring minds. We were going to find out the volumetric flow of the river, the penstock pipe length, and the transmission wire length.

To measure the flow, we chose two places in the river well away from the water fall. For each one, we measured the length across and the depth of the river at regular intervals so that we could calculate the cross-sectional area. This part required shallow wading at one of the locations, but a brave act of sacrifice at the other location. Our fellow BGET volunteer Christina waded in past her waist, getting almost completely wet putting the measuring stick into the fast-flowing water! I had just gotten over Dangue and that is my excuse for simply standing by in awe. After finding the area, we measured a length down the stream to float an object so we could find how long it would take this section of water to move a certain distance. Leaves worked okay, but they often sunk pathetically, even to our desperate chants of "Go! Go! Go!" Empty water bottles seemed to work best. In the end, we multiplied the float length by the area and divided by the float time to find the volume of water flowing per unit time in liters per minute.

On our way back, we were followed by some Karen children, chasing the ones in front of us, we merrily made our way back to the village, measuring the distance along the way to estimate the pipe length from weir to powerhouse. We were finished for the day, as far as the site survey went. Tired from the cold, rushing water, we lay and sat in one of the houses while our friend Sunti made us a delicious pork and vegetable dish. We sat in a circle on the floor and ate hungrily, pouring the hot food onto mounds of white rice. Later that night, there was a village meeting at the house of one of the village leaders. The BGET volunteers sat silently while about forty or so men spoke in Karen to one another, gathering the gist of it from body language and tone of voice. As is the way of most Karen, there was alot of laughter. If only I knew what they were saying!

After a night of sound sleep, we awoke, ate, and proceeded to measure the transmission line length. Along with the height of the water fall, which was measured earlier, we now had all the measurements needed to size the system. We thanked those who had let us stay and eat with them and said farewell to the children, but it was not a sad goodbye. We'll be back at the end of November for the installation!

Cycling around Mae Sot District

What could be better than a sunny, 70-degree day on a motorcycle, the wind in your hair as you speed along a small highway in northern Thailand? On the left side of the road, mind you. At such a moment, it seems nothing could possibly be better. The countryside out here is composed of gorgeous, rolling green hills, dramatic cliffs, and robin's-egg skies as far as the eye can see. Although Mae Sot is quaint enough to stave off feelings of claustrophobia, and bustling enough to keep one occupied, it was liberating to break out onto the open road. That is, after a few hours of swerving around at 5 kph, bystanders staring in mild surprise at the silly 'farangs' slowly crashing into mail boxes and flower pots, and falling over like baby cows. After getting the hang of 3rd gear, we decided it was time to make a little trip over to the border, just to get the hang of it. We rode in the shoulder, where traffic is a mix of walkers, runners, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and the occasional parked car. Sounds dangerous, right? Not really. The highways around here feel very safe, other vehicles moving over to give us more than enough room. Drivers here seem more aware than those in the States, in fact. I suspect it's because there's less of an expectation for things to be safe and for the rules of the road to do the driving for us.

As we picked up confidence, we picked up speed and decided to turn around in the direction of Mae Kause Hot Springs about 20km north of town. After we turned off the Asia Highway onto the road to Mae Ramat, Christina and I stopped for gas and some of those delicious sesame things to which we've become irreversibly addicted. Out again, Christina leading the way, she shot four fingers into the air, the signal that it was time for 4th gear. Speed lines stretching behind us for kilometers, we wound our way past bean field after green bean field, eventually taking a right onto a smaller road toward the springs. We had to avoid some pretty serious potholes (another potential explanation for the conscious driving), eventually finding ourselves in a small town, the name of which I have yet to learn. The people there seemed pretty jazzed that a couple of foreign girls were riding through town, waving at us and calling 'hello!' Hello women sitting languidly on the porch in October heat. Hello old man herding his goats. Hello children running and smiling.

We arrived at the hot springs to find a small park with a little geyser pool, wooden bridges, and food stands, shadowed by a sheer cliff face to the west. Mae Kause seemed like a place where Thai families might take the kids on the weekend, and we were the only foreigners there. Observing a few kids playing near the geyser, fishing what looked like a ratan basket of eggs out of the geyser with a stick. We followed suit, buying some 'cai lek' (small eggs) from the 'pu ying' (woman) to put into the 'nam rron' (hot water). While our eggs were boiling, we met a couple of sisters having a picnic dinner. They invited us to join them on their little blanket and we chatted, mostly in English and a bit in Thai. The older sister was with the tourist police and spoke more English than the younger one, who was smiley and shy. We shared our eggs and sesame things with them, they their papaya salad and prawns with us. When we noticed that the sun had disappeared behind the cliff, at the thought of riding home in the dark we bade farewell to the sisters and headed for town. The ride back was even more beautiful in the lowering light, the breeze newly cool, relative familiarity calling us back.

Lessons from Poblaki

As the rising sun began to heat the streets of Mae Sot last Thursday, BGET volunteers and technicians (including American volunteers Megan, Christina, and Josh, and Thai-Karen technicians Thai, Sunti, and Em) teamed up with two folks from a Thai ram pump company to head to Poblaki, a Karen village about 6-7 hours northwest from town. Thomas and Stefan, the folks from the ram pump company, had arrived the night before from their headquarters in Chiang Mai. Several months ago, BGET and the ram pump folks came together to install a ram pump system to deliver water from the nearby stream to the village school (if you are not familiar with ram pumps, please see the end of this post for a short description). This system moves water from the stream to a large tank in the schoolyard. Before the installation, people had to walk nearly one kilometer down a steep path (which became very slippery during the wet season) through the jungle to reach the stream, and then carry several gallons of water back up that same path. With the system installed, families could easily walk to the school yard and use the tank's tap to withdraw the day's water.

Unfortunately, we had heard that the system was broken and water was no longer filling the tank. Those on the team with experience with the system guessed the problem lay in one or more of three possibilities: (1) the pump was not operating properly, (2) the catchment dam was clogged with mud and rocks, or (3) a pipe somewhere in the line was broken. After a brief stop at a Mae Sot hardware store to pick up a few pieces of possible replacement parts, we hit the road. About 5 or so hours on the highway and a lunch stop just outside the Mae Moei National Park, we began to wind our way up, down, and around the mountains on mostly washed out red clay roads. Large swaths of new green rice plants interrupted the fleece-y dark green of wild jungle plants, and dramatic mountain ridges undulated far into the distance under a striking blue enamel sky. Grey cotton clouds quickly moved into the valley, and a gentle drizzle cooled our sun-warmed skin. After about two hours on the dirt roads, we reached the last river before Poblaki. The monsoon rains had so swollen the river at one point that the bridge had been washed away. We pulled the truck over, packed up the bags and tools, and explored the banks for a shallow way across. Not finding anything promising, we asked a local the best way across, and he pointed us to a thin path a little ways up the hill. After a few minutes of walking in what had developed into a typical seasonal downpour, we crossed a beautiful footbridge constructed entirely of bamboo. After the bridge, we skirted acres of rice fields before arriving at a temporary shelter under the eaves of someone's house. As we waited for the storm to calm a bit, we busied ourselves with grooming -- finding the opportunistic leeches that had stuck themselves fast to our flesh and struggling to tear the slippery creatures away.

When the cacophony of rain had quieted to a dull roar, we thanked our host and began the remaining one kilometer -- all at a significant uphill grade -- to Poblaki. As we walked through town, we greeted folks sitting and chatting together under the protection of friends' and family's roof and watched chickens and dogs huddling together under the homes' raised floors. At the end of a cluster of homes, we arrived at Rose's place, our homestay for the two days. Once the sun reappeared and we had dried off a bit, we set out to inspect the ram pump. Eight people half-slid, half-tiptoed down the hill to the stream. The Thai-Karen members of the BGET team moved confidently as though they had learned to walk on saturated jungle paths, and Thomas and Stefan admirably struggled to keep up, but the new farang BGET volunteers (i.e. Megan, Christina, and Josh) quickly fell far behind as we carefully tried to avoid (but didn't quite succeed) falling and sliding the rest of the way down the hill.

When we finally caught up to the rest of the group, we discovered that possible problem number two could have been the culprit. Rocks and silt had almost completely filled the catchment basin to divert most of the water away from the pipe. Once Thomas, Thai, Sunti, and Megan cleaned out the small basin as best we could and more water flowed into the pipe, we headed a little further downstream to inspect the pump. As we stood around watching the ram pump folks tinker a little with the pump system, the clouds opened up a second drenching attack. With the increased flow from the unblocked catchment basin and the rainstorm, the pump quickly kicked into operation. Satisfied that we had resolved problems one and two (pump and catchment basin), we stood around and chatted about the system until the rain abated enough to make the return trip to the village a bit easier. As we walked, we made a cursory visual check of the piping in the pump system, and since we noticed no spurting leaks, we assumed possible problem three was not a problem after all. Back in the village, we went to the school and confirmed that water flowed into the tank. Megan, Josh, and Christina spent the rest of the afternoon -- now sunny, now rainy -- performing a site survey for a future PV project for the school while the others washed and rested.

Later that evening, after a delicious Karen meal Sunti, Em, and Thai helped prepare, we learned that in fact the pump system was not working. So, after rising with the sun and the roosters at dawn, Megan, Christina, Em, Thai, and Sunti suited up in rain gear, gathered tools, and went back to check the system. As before, the rains had swept the catchment basin full of mud and debris. Once the basin was clear, the pump began to work as normal. We returned to the village by following the delivery pipe and stooped to put our hand on the pipe to check that water was indeed flowing up. The ram pump's water hammer caused rhythmic vibrations in the delivery pipe that felt just like the heartbeat of a living thing. As we traced the pipe up to the village, we saw water glugging out of a broken end, just before the pipe crossed the road to enter the schoolyard. Turns out that problem three -- a broken pipe somewhere in the system -- was in fact our problem. The pipe had been buried under the dirt road that passed outside the schoolyard, but some rains must have washed away enough dirt to expose the pipe to animal or motor traffic. Despite having stopped at the hardware store before leaving Mae Sot, we had not brought along enough of the required pipe size to fix the problem right away. We also suggested that the new pipe be laid inside a large pipe or piece of bamboo to protect it against future damage. Unfortunately, with most of the BGET team heading to Burma this week, we won't be able to return to Poblaki for at least three weeks, and the villagers will have to go back to the old method of fetching water.


So, what have we learned?

(1) A new design for the upstream water catchment is critical. The BGET team tossed around a few simple ideas for debris filters and a deeper catchment basin, as well more complex ideas, such as commoditizing the water with some money paying for a trained village member to clear the basin of mud and check on the pump and piping system whenever the school tank reported low or no flow.

(2) Think through all possible problems, and bring enough supplies to fix any of the problems.


NOTE: A Short Explanation of Ram Pumps

Ram pumps move water using only the potential energy of water in the form of pressure head -- no fuel and no electricity. Large flow rates falling from a low head (elevation) moves smaller flow rates up to a greater head. A drive pipe brings water from a catchment basin to the pump. A delivery pipe carries water from the pump to the desired location. Two valves in the pump and an air chamber regulate pressure oscillations (the water hammer) in the pump that force excess water from the drive pipe out of the system and move some flow uphill in the delivery pipe. As the first valve opens to release the excess water, pressure in the system decreases and water from the drive pipe enters the pump. The entering water forces the first valve closed and compresses air in the air chamber, which rapidly builds pressure in the pump. When the pressure in the pump exceeds the pressure head of the delivery system, the pump expels water into the delivery pipe. This loss of water decreases the pressure in the pump and the first valve falls open by gravity and the cycle starts again. The second valve is a check valve to keep water from the delivery pipe from falling back into the pump when the pump pressure decreases. No photo of the ram pump will be published here to protect the proprietary rights of the company.

Life Changing by Nate Rodomski: Global Youth Service Team and BGET Volunteer, July 2008

It’s July 3rd, 4 a.m. and I had just left my home with 3 of my friends and my teacher Mr. Doug Hollinger. We were heading to Thailand, as part of the Global Youth Service Team we were making the trip to give light to schools who didn’t have the luxury of electricity. Excited and anxious to reach Mae Sot, the trip there was long, although quite an adventure. I had never been out of the United States (besides going to Canada… but that doesn’t count) so the 35 hours of total travel time was incredible. Between flying, waiting in airports, and bus rides that’s how long it took us to arrive in Mae Sot, but it was so worth it!

The trip was quite successful, two schools that previously didn’t have electricity now do – remote schools far from most modern towns and cities. Villages where the buildings are made of bamboo instead of steel and concrete, where Burmese and Karen people flee from their homes, searching for safety in Thailand. The refugees have very little, and it felt good to be able to help them through the problems they face and will continue to face until their government’s oppressive actions are put to a stop.

Regardless, the villagers we helped were very appreciative. One of the teachers at Na Lee Ah Hta told us that thanks to the new lights she would no longer need to use candles at night, which were dangerous and expensive.

In addition to installing the solar systems, BGET and GYST educated the teachers (and students) of the villages in understanding and maintenance of the system, which I think is very important. It’s good to help by not only giving them light, but also giving them light and electricity without encouraging them to use fossil fuels to generate it. Renewable energy is very important to preserving the planet, and after seeing the smog over large cities such as Bangkok I felt even better about doing the work we had done.

Helping install and teach about solar panels was a life changing event and I’m very grateful that I was able to participate in something so meaningful.

A New Volunteer's Experience in Mae Sot

Motorcyclists, open-air vegetable markets, men kicking rattan balls high into the air, rain storms with a vengeance, goats eating people's flowers, and more dogs than you could ever imagine. These are just some initial impressions since my friend Christina and I arrived in Mae Sot about five days ago, a place that is already beginning to feel like home. We are two engineering students from Stanford University, born and raised in the US, and on a great, green adventure for the next three months. I first heard of BGET when I was performing research for my senior thesis at Bard College back in 2005. I was a physics major, but I wanted to apply the knowledge I had accrued to something practical, something worthwhile. I wanted to "save the world", so to speak.

So I chose to look into possibly building a micro hydropower system on my campus, a project that dramatically changed my professional goals. One day, looking for some reading material on micro hydropower case studies, I came across BGET's website and immediately felt I had found something special. I had been to Burma a couple of times with a volunteer group I had helped to form at Bard. We called ourselves the Children's Expressive Arts project and schlepped bags and bags of paints, paper, and myriads of other fun stuff to dozens of orphanages around Yangon and Mandalay, teaching for about four or five hours at each location and then, as quickly as we came, leaving with nothing but a mountain of art supplies in our wake. Who knows if what we did made a lasting impression on the children or caregivers of these orphanages, though what we did was an incredibly meaningful experience that I will treasure forever. I wanted to go back there and help more, and here was an opportunity to use my expertise to create positive, immediate, and lasting changes in people's lives. There were challenges to face, stories to share, and I wanted to be there.

It wasn't until my first year of grad school at Stanford that I heard about some fellowship opportunities with a company called MAP Royalty, which acquires and manages renewable energy royalty interests primarily associated with wind power. Looking at the list, I was delighted to find BGET as one of the internships and immediately began working on writing the best application I could. So that's how I got here, in this northern Thailand border town of about 150,000 people, depending on who you ask. Every weekday, Christina and I leave our cozy guest house and bike down the busy streets (on the left side) to the BGET office, arriving at 8am. We've been working on helping to size a couple of up-coming micro hydropower systems, which involves lots of spreadsheet calculations. We'll be installing one of these systems in November. For our project with the Global Health Assistance Program, we're also looking at some coolers that will be powered by solar to cool vaccines for Malaria, Japanese Encephalitis, Dysentery, etc. And on Saturday, we worked on building three solar water heating systems for homes in Mae Sot. We'll finish those next Saturday. And just in time for the rainy season to end!

Thanks for reading my post. Stay tuned for more!

Happiness: By Ben Stauber, Global Youth Service Team and BGET Volunteer, July 2007

Every day, we, as Americans have the luxury to watch television, play videogames or even turn on a light switch. That’s not always the case for the citizens in Thailand, where television isn’t a common house hold appliance and electricity in general isn’t run to most homes. But even though the Thai people don’t have the comfort of cooling in the hot season or kicking their feet up after a hard day’s work and watching some TV, they always seem to be smiling brightly and it would brighten anyone’s day.

I noticed as a SGSO member, ( now known as GYST) in Thailand, that no matter how bad it seemed people were off or the children we saw in the hospitals, everyone was always smiling. It was one of the most pleasant environments I have ever been involved in, even though at the time I was in a third world nation. People can think what they want about third world nations and that they are dirty or disease infested or whatever it may be, my experience in Thailand leads me to believe most of the people are happy and love what they do have, instead of complaining about what they don’t have or want to have. The people I met In Thailand were so unselfish and caring, it was amazing. Here in America a lot of times, people will be walking down the street and if you look at them, they will flash you an evil glare, but not in Thailand. The Thai people were always so friendly and nice. It really warmed my heart.

So if someone came up to me and asked if going to Thailand would be worthwhile, I would say MOST DEFINATLY!! Everyone at some point in their lives should make an effort to go see this phenomenal place. The people in Thailand are wonderful, always cheerful and full of smiles. Along with that, Learning about a new culture and how people of different places of the world live is a priceless experience. Anyone who ventures to Thailand will have the greatest time of their lives.

The Volunteer’s Diet: By Corinne E Kingsley, Global Youth Service Team and BGET Volunteer July, 2007

As a BGET volunteer on the Thai-Burma border you experience unique opportunities. One of these that really stands out is the diversity of food. In the town of Mae Sot there were many “Western” restaurants. These served foods that you would be accustomed to eating in everyday life. Although theses were familiar foods they were still different from how you would eat them here in the United States. They had their own special twists to them that made them unique. Also, in the town there are many restaurants that serve actual Thai food. Even the pickiest of eaters can find something they like here. It may not be something that you are familiar with but there are so many choices that it is almost guaranteed you will find something that you like even if it is just some sort of rice or Thai noodles.

Outside of the town in remote villages like Pa Noi Pu, the food is a completely different story. The people in the town were so grateful for our work that they offered us the very best food that they possibly could. We ate rice at every meal and they bought bread for us. Bread is considered a real delicacy to them so this was a huge honor. They also prepared chicken for us at every meal. It is also a big deal for them to have meat since they are basically self sufficient in raising their own animals.

One final warning about the diet for a volunteer is about the different types of bacteria that they have in their food and water. As far as water goes, it is only safe to drink either bottled water or water that has been through a filter. It is also very common for foreigners to get sick from the food throughout the first week or so. Having prescription medicine for this on hand just in case is the best way to be prepared.

การอบรมและอธิบายเกี่ยวกับการทำโซลาร์คุกกิ๊ง (Solar cooking) ที่บ้าน แม่เหว่ย มี.ค. 51 Solar Cooking Training at Mae Wei village in March, 2008

วันแรกของการอบรมทีมงาน BGET อบรมเกี่ยวกับประโยชน์ ข้อดี ข้อเสีย วิธีการทำโซลาร์คุกกิ๊ง และมีนักเรียนกับแม่บ้านได้เข้าร่วมการอบรมครั้งนี้ด้วย
On the first day, BGET staff explained about the advantages and disadvantages of solar cooking. The participants are students and housewives in the village.

เสร็จจากการอบรมแล้ว ทีมงาน แม่บ้าน และนักเรียน ได้ลงมือช่วยกันทำกล่องโซลาร์คุกกิ๊งกันอย่างสนุกสนาน เพื่อจะนำโซลาร์คุกกิ๊งกลับไปหุงต้มในตอนเย็น
After the theory was covered, we enjoyed helping the villagers to build the solar box cookers and to use on the next day.

หลังจากทำการประกอบเสร็จ ก็นำโซลาร์คุกกิ๊งไปหุงอาหารกัน ในการนำโซลาร์คุกกิ๊งไปหุงอาหารนั้น ก็แค่นำโซลาร์คุกกิ๊งไปตากแดดแค่นั้นเอง
After finishing building the cookers, we cooked our food with the cookers. All it needed was the sun energy.

หลังจากทิ้งไว้ประมาณ 2-3 ชั่วโมง อาหารที่หุงนั้นก็จะสุก น่ารับประทานเหมือนในรูปนี้
สำหรับการทำโซลาร์คุกกิ๊งนี้ ค่าใช้จ่ายก็ถูก ทำง่าย ลดมลภาวะ และไม่เป็นพิษต่อผู้บริโภค
After a few hours, the food was cooked in the solar cooker. The good things about solar cookers are low cost, easy to make, and reduce the air pollution.

การไปสำรวจเพื่อจะทำไฟ้ฟ้าพลังานน้ำ ที่ หมู่บ้านไม้ไผ่ ต.พะวอ อ.แม่สอด จ.ตาก มิ.ย. 51 Micro-hydro site survey at Mai Pai village, Mae Sot in June, 2008

เส้นทางในการเดินทางไปสำรวจอาจจะดูลำบาก แต่ทีมงานก็ไปด้วยความตั้งใจ
Even though the road conditions were bad, we enjoyed the trip.


เมื่อเดินทางไปถึงหมู่บ้านแล้วทีมงานก็ได้เดินทางไปสำรวจน้ำตกทันที น้ำตกจะสูงมากและสวยมาก และน้ำที่ตกลงมานี้จะเป็นน้ำพุจากใต้ภูเขา ปริมาณน้ำจะคงที่ตลอดปี เหมาะสำหรับการทำไฟฟ้าพลังงานน้ำ
Soon after arriving to the village, BGET staff started the site survey. The waterfall is high and beautiful. The water comes from the spring underneath the mountain and is constant throughout the year. Thus, it is suitable to use for micro-hydro system.


จากนั้นได้ไปสำรวจข้อมูลต่างๆในหมู่บ้านและโรงเรียน เกี่ยวกับรายได้แต่ละครัวเรือน จำนวนครัวเรือน ส่วนใหญ่เพาะปลูกอะไรเป็นหลัก เป็นต้น
Our team also collected village information including the total household, the villagers’ income, and what they normally grow in this village

Solar System Training for Burma Medical Association (BMA) in June, 2008 การไปอบรมให้กับ BMA ที่แม่สอด เรื่อง ความรู้เบื้องต้นของระบบโซลาร์เซลล์ทั้งหมด

วันแรกของการอบรม โดย Mr.Andrew อธิบายเกี่ยวกับพลังงานต่างๆ

First day of training, Andrew explained the different forms of energy.

ทีมงาน BGET ได้ทำการทดสอบการใช้โซลาร์เซลล์โดยใช้โซลาร์เซลล์ขนาดเล็กในการทดลอง

และอธิบายเกี่ยวกับการทำงานของโซลาร์เซลล์ว่าทำงานอย่างไร ผลิตไฟได้อย่างไร

BGET Staff demonstrated how the small solar panel works and how it generates electricity.

จากนั้นทีมงาน BGET ให้ผู้เข้าอบรมได้ทำการประกอบชุด Controller ด้วยผู้เข้าอบรมเอง

และทีมงานได้ดูแลและให้คำปรึกษาอย่างใกล้ชิด

BGET Staff closely helped the training participants to build the control boxes for solar system.

หลังจากทำการอบรมเสร็จ ทีมงาน BGET ได้ทำการแจกใบประกาศให้กับผู้เข้าอบรม

After the training finished, BGET staff awarded the participants with certificates of completion.

หลังจากทำการแจกใบประกาศเสร็จแล้วทีมงาน BGET ได้ถ่ายรูปร่วมกับผู้เข้าอบรม

We all took the group photo after the training finished.