Ok Tarim Hard work and friendships forged. A local solution to avoiding a sun burnt nose!All hands involved in digging the area for construction of the turbine house.Using customary digging tools. Sticks with forked ends used to dig the 1.5m deep holes in readiness for the transmission posts.Gary charging his mobile phone with electricity generated from the Ok Tarim Hydro. Prior to the hydro, the people of Ok Tarim needed to walk 2 days to the nearest town to have their mobile phones recharged. Charged phones allow greater communication, especially with family members away from Ok Tarim.Joy as members of Ok Tarim community inspect the Pelena single-nozzle Pelton turbine.Exhausting but joyous - a group of Ok Tarim residents near the turbine house.A standard Pelena Energy street light post. These posts have been specifically designed for the tropics.The penstock pipe snakes its way through the bush prior to being lowered into the trench for subsequent burying.Lowering a modified poly water tank into a pit for use as a settling tank to clean the water before passing through the Penstock pipe to the turbine.A proud house owner - now with electricity!A proud house owner with their new verandah light. All lights are high-efficiency weatherproof fittings.The turbine runner and turbine shaft are carried from the village to the turbine site. Why wait for roads when skills already exist in rural PNG!Negotiating the steep terrain of Ok Tarim. Growing up and living in a mountainous region develops talents and skills that are foreign to city-based people. With perfect balance, good communication, and skilled sure-footedness, all equipment was installed without injury or damage.Streetlight near a house. Electricity is delivered to each post by insulated overhead cable, then runs underground to each house from a meterbox. The meterbox also contains safety switches (RCD's/Earth leakage) to protect people. Should a house need to be relocated, or a house fire occurs, the supply to the house can be safely isolated at the meterbox.Working late into the evening by torch installing one of the 21 street-light and transmission posts. 4 guy wires hold the post in position whilst the concrete footing is set.
