AIDG has teamed with the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders to develop a low cost windmill. The goal is to provide electricity at low costs to the rural poor in Guatemala (and elsewhere in the future) for such uses as LED lighting, cell phone charging, and small radio use. The idea is to beat the price of a small (less than 3 watt) photovoltaic solar panel system. Initial inspiration for the project was a design developed by Ed Lenz made with coffee cans (http://www.windstuffnow.com/main/vawt.htm)

The collaboration is managed by Matt Mclean of EWB, Steve Crowe (AIDG's Guatemala Program Director)  and Benny Lee (AIDG's Director of Education and Outreach).  There are two technical leads on the project, Dan Prull and Steven Pepe (both studying wind energy at the graduate level with the RAEL lab at Berkeley), and 10 other active volunteers. AIDG's Executive Director, Peter Haas is also a team participant. As of April 2007, the EWB group has performed theoretical analysis of various alternator options and is now beginning the design and prototype phase of both the rotor and the alternator.  Prototyping and testing of Savonius type and Darius type rotors are planned.