ITALY comenius meeting 01/03/2015-06/03/2015
We arrived to the airport in Catania in the afternoon and after leaving our suitcases in the cars we went for a walk around Catania with our host families. We had dinner in a popular restaurant there in Catania all together.
We met in the school in Scordia in the morning and they showed us the school. Afterwards, we went to visit the Josephine´s family´s factory before going to the EthnoAnthropologic museum in Scordia. Then, we went to the town hall, where we were received by the mayor. After having lunch together and having a good time, we spent the afternoon with our host families.
We visited the ENEL green power station: (http://www.enelgreenpower.com/en-GB), where they are researching photovoltaic technologies. They are investigating what kind of cell are the most suitable for a location according to the climate, temperature, solar irradiation‌ They seek for a clean, inexhaustible and cheap energy source.The materials they test are: monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium gallium selenide/sulphide.They also are conducting studies on the best place to locate the cells: roof, wall, windows‌ After that, we took the bus to go to Taormina where we had free time. We walked around the city and had a wonderful time in such a great place. Then, we met the teachers and we headed to the Greek theatre. After arriving home, we had dinner with our host families.
As the Italian students had to go to school, all the foreign students visited Militello. We went to different churches and museums there with a guide what we found very interesting. We had lunch at home and then, in the afternoon, we met in Scordia and we had dinner together.
We visited Archimede Power Plant- ENEL- Priollo Gargallo (SR) (http://www.archimedesolarenergy.it/it_reference_project_1.htm) .This is an experimental plant that gets electricity from solar power. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems produce electricity in a similar way to conventional power stations, using steam to drive a turbine. The difference is that the energy comes from solar radiation and is converted into hightemperature heat, between 400 and 1000ºC, using hundreds of mirrors. The mirror’s surface is about 30.580 m2 The CSP technology allows the conversion of solar radiation into thermal energy, through a concentrator made by reflecting areas that focus the sun rays on to a receiver. Both concentrator and receiver constitute the trough.
They are using a mixture of salts: The Molten Salt eutectic mixture, 60% NANO₃-40% KNO₃. These salts are widely used as fertilizer; they are low cost and available in large quantities. Their temperature varies from 290 to 550 °C when the solar field is operating. Although they get 10 megawatts in this way, they consume 5 heating the salt in order to make it fluid. After that visit, we headed to Siracusa and we had free time there. We walked around the city and we admired its views, they also took us to a church. We had a very good time there. When the free time was finished, we met the teachers and went to the Greek theatre. It really impressed us as it was fascinating. After that we went home to have dinner before meeting again in Scordia for the Goodbye party.
We met at the school in the morning and after saying goodbye to all of our new friends we took the bus to go to the airport in Catania.