Students and teachers of the Pančevo Secondary School of Mechanical Engineering have successfully completed the project of constructing a vertical-axis wind turbine as part of NIS's local community sponsorship programme termed Cooperation for Development. A demonstration of this electricity generation device was given today in this educational institution. The vertical-axis wind turbine was designed and built by students of the Pančevo Secondary School of Mechanical Engineering, with the assistance of their teachers. This is a 2-kilowatt device capable of providing electricity for lighting a dozen of classrooms. After relevant bodies and local authorities issue a permit to set the wind turbine in the school yard, the school’s authorities plan to connect it to the national grid. Third and fourth grade students of this secondary school from Pančevo have participated in all stages of building the wind turbine, from electronic designing and manufacture of the device's main parts using a 3D printer up until its assembly. Vlada Božičković, a professor and the project manager, has highlighted the importance of using a 3D printer in developing the wind turbine's parts. The school purchased the printer two years ago with support by NIS, and apart from two faculties from Belgrade and Novi Sad, the Pančevo Secondary School of Mechanical Engineering is the only secondary education facility in Serbia to have such a device. Nikola Kovačević, one of the students who worked on vertical-axis wind turbine’s designing and development, regards his participation in all stages of the project as a unique experience. He said this had been the best opportunity to combine theory and practice and that was why he had worked on this project with much enthusiasm. “There is no better way to develop qualified workers and professionals than how the vertical-axis wind turbine project was implemented. Students have easily recognised their teachers' commitment and gladly joined this endeavour, which inevitably yielded results. I am thankful to NIS for having recognised that. Students and teachers of the Secondary School of Mechanical Engineering have plenty of useful ideas they will strive to best put into practice in future,” said Miodrag Ilić, the director of the Pančevo Secondary School of Mechanical Engineering. As part of the Cooperation for Development, NIS's programme aimed at developing local communities, the company sponsors major social projects establishing partner relations with the regions where it operates, such as the cities of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Pančevo, Zrenjanin, Kikinda, Niš, Čačak and the municipalities of Novi Bečej, Kanjiža, Žitište and Srbobran. As part of the Together for Community public tender, in 2014 NIS will sponsor 164 best projects in sports, culture, environmental protection, science and social welfare in all the cities and municipalities where it operates. Since Pančevo is the city where the oil refinery is located, NIS traditionally sponsors many significant projects aimed at ensuring this local community’s social and economic development. This is yet another year that public tenders have been organised in Pančevo to sponsor the most successful projects in culture, environmental protection, sports and social welfare. http://zajednicizajedno.nis.eu/rezultati-konkursa
