FuturEnergy Ireland’s Community Liaison Officers Kevin Donnellan and Christy O’Dea teamed up with Paul McCartin from Dundalk IT Learn Renewables to run TY workshops on renewable energy in two Co Clare secondary schools recently.
Paul ran four workshops in Scariff Community College and five workshops in St Anne’s Killaloe Community School for TY students and fifth year physics students. The workshops included information on fossil fuels and the alternatives, mainly focusing on electricity generation from wind. Paul also built a wind turbine and explained the workings of each turbine part.
In an exercise, the pupils fixed the blades to the rotor and attached them to the turbine for testing electricity generation with an amp meter. Paul then gave them feedback on the results of the power generation, plus advice on how to improve electricity generation with improved blade alignment. They all got a second chance to redesign and test again.
Learn Renewables is an independent education and research-based programme that is also geared towards attracting students into the renewables industry. In Scariff, 78 pupils attended the workshops while 85 pupils and attended in St Anne’s.
Clare-based Community Liaison Officer Kevin Donnellan said: ‘The interaction and enthusiasm was lovely to see. The students were really interested in learning about renewable energy and from what I saw from the turbine building exercise, there are a good few budding engineers among them.
