The first city that our group stayed at was São Leopoldo, a smaller city in close proximity to the much bigger city of Porto Alegre. This is where we spent the majority of the trip, and this is where our partner University, Unisinos, is located.
Our very first company visit of the trip was to a place called Certaja Energia, a local energy cooperative of the region. Their goal is to supply electricity to rural places that would otherwise struggle to receive power.
The picture above is of the grid control room! In the picture, you can see the diagram of the power grid with loads and lines! This related directly to one of the classes that I took at Pitt called Fundamentals of Electric Power. It was really interesting to see what I learned being applied here.
During our time in São Leopoldo, we also toured a substation! This was really interesting to learn and see in-person.
A substation is used to step down voltage to the distribution level. Therefore, it is placed after generation and transmission lines and before all of the distribution lines. The main component in a substation is a transformer. This is the component that is stepping the voltage in this facility. Because transformers are components that require high levels of customization, there is over a year-long lead time to obtain one.
During one of our last days in São Leopoldo, we went to a Grêmio soccer game! This was my favorite activity we did during our time in this region. The home team we were rooting for, Grêmio, didn’t end up winning, but the game was still really fun to watch! Their fans were singing and chanting the entire game and never let up. If you get the chance to see a South American soccer game, I highly recommend it!
Those were a few of the highlights from my journey in São Leopoldo. Our next stop is to Foz do Iguaçu. See you then!
Swanson School of Engineering 