NektaR in the World Wild Web: Powering up in Portugal

Things looking better, being to Portugal for few days and that was a good break, a nice long weekend. I found the cheapest airfare and in only about 2 hours I was landing at Porto airport. I went to see a good friend who, for the last 18 months, works on a power plant construction project nearby Pego village, central Portugal. I wanted to see my engineer friend and also have a close look at the brand new power plant in almost commissioning stage. I had already sent details, diplomas etc to be able to gain access in this Siemens project.

So I arrived.. the weather in Porto kind of cloudy but still warm and ok to be outdoors with a light jacket on you. I had all time schedules calculated and noted and even though I had a delay on my way to the airport (jumping security check queues etc) I was on time. Got the tube on time and the train to Lisbon also on time. In just 1 hour from landing I was on the train glazing the Atlantic on a scenic route through fields and the coast.

Porto_On a train glazing the Atlantic

Couple of hours after I was picked up by my friend and headed to the plant for a first tour and walk around. Went to all systems, cooling towers, hybrid condensers, gas and steam turbines, generators etc etc and showed me the work they do in these two identical units, 415MW of power output each. Quite substantial, it can cover the 15% of power needs in the country.

Pego CCGT_Cooling towers

Pego CCGT_Gas turbine

Pego CCGT_Pretending at the hydrogen skid..

I spent a relaxed few days around Abrantes, the village I was staying, with lots of sleep, 'sightseeing' and Portuguese food. Portuguese people seem to be quite slow, something like taking life very easy and the tempo in general terms is slooow.. Took 15 minutes to order and pay for two pints of beer.. The food was good, lot's of chicken in their cookings however the best dish I tried and indeed popular in Portugal was duck with rice cooked together and finished in the oven, as a bake. mmmm Natural beauty left me indifferent and generally nothing to go too excited for. Maybe because there wasn't mountains or my tempo from London cannot ease even when it should. I decided on my way back to stop for a tourist walk in Porto, but again apart of the beautiful buildings that you'll see next below nothing to spark my curiosity and/or thinking. (Hmm maybe the fact that Greece won the Euro 2004 here did! :)) Of course I should have stayed longer however I think someone can feel the vibe even with a short walk around the centre.

Porto_Igreja da Trindade

Porto_at Praca Liberdade

Next holidays in Christmas.. There is something more than a month left to this so heads down and do some work. Along with the schools in UK and my diplomas coursework, I work with Learning Planet to setup the water supply project in Dhawa as well as the new infant school (see previous post). Finally after weeks I managed to open and use a GPS file received from a guy from the water authority of Gorkha with the suggested route of the water pipeline and reservoirs. I managed to transfer this file in Google Earth and having the ability to view in 360' fine resoltuion, tilted etc it is just amazing!! See the print screen below, the image and location relief of Dhawa, at the foothils of the Himalayas. Actually, I managed to find the mud house we were staying in summer! Point 012 is the Shree Prabhat school we installed the solar panels. The network runs all across Dhawa community and is somewhat complex and challenging.