Local Green Energy Volunteer Does Work in Peru

Todd Menadier, a Belleville resident and the Sustainable Energy teacher at Bloomfield Technical High School, recently returned from a six-week volunteer program in Peru where he helped to build and install a wind turbine for an off-grid village in the Andes. 

The program, run by the non-governmental organization WindAid, has successfully installed five turbines in rural Peru over the last three years with the help of volunteers/engineering students from around the world. 

Menadier, a recent recipient of an Innovative Technology Educator Award sponsored by the Edison Venture Fund, is passionate about educating for a sustainable energy future.  He helped found the Green Energy Academy, a recipient of PSEG Foundation Grants, at Bloomfield Tech in 2007 as a means to educate and train a workforce for the growing green energy sector. 

His expertise as a green energy educator is due in large part to his continuing education; he is pursuing a MS in Power and Energy Systems through the electrical engineering department at NJIT. 

“The WindAid program offered an opportunity that combined my desire to serve others with my passion for learning about and sharing ideas related to renewable energy—all while embarking on an amazing travel experience.  It was a very rewarding summer!” Menadier said about his experience. 

The 2,500-watt turbine is connected to a 48-volt battery system that supplies a community/school building with electricity for lights, fans, computers, radios, as well as a charging station for villagers to charge their own 12-V car batteries that power individual homes. 

The entire system was created from scratch by the team of volunteers and is based on years of design improvements made by WindAid engineers.  The result is an efficient, affordable three-phase electrical generator. 

Menadier plans to share his knowledge with his students at Bloomfield Tech as part of the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) course work that he teaches in the Green Energy Academy. 

“The goal is to incorporate the concept of wind and distributed power into the senior year Smart Grid Technology course of the Academy” he said. 

The senior-year course is the first of its kind and it builds upon the previous three courses of the Academy. The other three are the 9th-grade Green Energy Exploratory, 10th-Grade Principles of Passive and Active Solar Energy, and 11th-Grade Energy Efficiency Auditing, Design, and Implementation.

The program is available for any incoming 9th-grade Essex County resident and some 10th-grade transfer students at the Bloomfield Tech campus of the Essex County Vocational Technical Schools.