February 4, 2014
Student brings electricity to hometown in rural China NEELAM CHOPADE Lode Writer Yawei Wei, an Electrical Engineering Master’s student, recently led a team of students at Michigan Tech in discovering a new way to generate electricity using solar energy. The original idea for the project relates to Wei’s childhood experiences in China. Every Chinese New Year, the power goes out for everyone in Wei’s hometown. That got him wondering: isn’t there some way to get more electricity to China’s rural villages? Wei, whose specialty is Power Systems, mulled over the problem. He is from Zao Yuan, a village of about 2,000 people in Shanxi Province of China. Like most of us, the residents of China celebrate New Year’s Eve by mass celebration. Unfortunately, the local power grid can’t handle the demand, which most of the time results in a blackout. Like rural places in many other countries, rural China lags behind cities when it comes to electrical service. Grid improvements would be costly. He might not be able to keep the lights on during New Year’s Eve, Wei thought. But he could do something. He could bring solar panels to sunny Zao Yuan. After learning so much, especially
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Yawei Wei with the solar panels he helped bring to his hometown, Zao Yuan, in China.
during Power Lab, Wei felt an impulse to do something for his hometown. He had the skills to design and build a small solar facility. Wei had the encouragement
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Pulse:
of his advisors Dr. Bruce Mork, professor of Electric Power Systems and Dr. Sumit Paudyal, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer engineering. Professors
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Opinion:
Photo courtesy of Yawei Wei
Leonard Bohmann and John Lukowski also offered insight and support. The initial
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