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World's Oldest Power Generator


andit

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Hi guys,

 

Well this could be what is left of one of the worlds oldest power stations. These are the remains of the Power Tower in Otjimbingwe in Namibia. It was a wind powered generator, built in 1890, and had a capacity of 6000 watts. It had a blade diameter of some 10 meters. What makes this so amazing is that this is not in some major city, this is even today in the middle of nowhere. In 1890 most cities in the world did not even have electric lighting. Otjimbingwe is situated approx halfway between Windhoek and Swakopmund - some 180 km from the coast, in the middle of the desert. This was a repair shop for the wagons that used to trek between these two centers, set up by the company E. Hälbich & Co. They used the electricity to power a lathe, a milling/drilling machine and electric lighting.

 

What is so sad is that this generator was cut up this year for scrap metal :confused: . This despite the fact that the power tower was declared a national monument in 1950. Here is what is left...

 

Thanks for looking, all comments welcome.

 

Andreas

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