On 4th August a delegation of Thai officials visited the offices of PEDAL to find out about our plans for a community owned wind turbine. This event was organised by our project funders, Community Energy Scotland.
After attempting to ply them with various Scottish goodies (smoked salmon, fruit scones) it became clear that our visitors had already been well fed at all the other venues they’d visited in Edinburgh and Glasgow that day! So we moved straight to an informative and pithy presentation from PEDAL Board member Eva Schonveld on the aims of the Transition movement and its underlying philosophy. This was followed by a presentation from Tom Black, Project Manager at PEDAL, on our plans for a wind turbine on the Promenade. Tom covered the work we’ve carried out to-date and some of the challenges involved in developing a turbine on this site.
There was a lively question and answer session, with the Thai delegates asking more detailed questions about how the project might work and how income from the turbine might be distributed. We also found out a bit about the renewable energy situation in Thailand — it sounds like solar power is a better option there compared to wind power. No surprises there! It was interesting to hear about the differences between the two countries in terms of support for voluntary, community-led efforts. It really struck us how fortunate we are to have support bodies like Community Energy Scotland.
Some of PEDAL’s Board members & staff with our new international friends!
Download the list of Thai delegates: Official Thai Delegation.