Play and discover wind: Ignitis Renewables education space in Palanga is waiting for you
Unique educational activities organised by an international energy company Ignitis Renewables will take place from 15 June to 13 July next to Jūratė and Kastytis Square on J. Basanavičiaus Street. Visitors will learn about the wind energy through fun and interactive activities for the whole family.
The education space was opened on 15 June to commemorate the Global Wind Day, which turned into an amazing wind festival in Palanga. The festival was brimming with activities from dawn til dusk, and the celebration was crowned by a performance from DJ Jovani on the bridge of Palanga, where people watched the sunset in a company of music and good mood. Now that the hustle and bustle of the celebration is over, the education space will remain open for the entire month, inviting everyone to exciting discoveries.
“We wish to show people that renewable energy as much an inspiring and creative topic as it is a solution for the future because here everyone can discover it. The platform in Palanga will be open for one month and is waiting for you to come, ask, play and experience. We feel it’s important to talk about this in plain terms with a smile and be accessible. This is how true curiosity is born about topics that seem difficult on a first glance,” says Vaiva Rutkauskaitė, Head of #EnergySmartSTART Education Programmes.
Wind experiments on the Wind Day
As on every summer weekend, Palanga was bustling with excitement and entertainment. However, on June 15, during the Palanga Wind Festival, the city was filled with plenty of wind-related activities. During the festival, residents and visitors of the city were treated to a wide range of activities, from a yacht regatta and kiteboarding lessons for beginners to a jump from the Palanga bridge by an extreme-sports athlete Nick Jacobsen. There were surfing lessons, children sailed on Optimist sailboats, enjoyed water trampoline parks and skateboard shows in the city, and in the evening, DJ Jovani entertained the crowd gathered on the Palanga bridge.
During the festival, the Ignitis Renewables education space was launched, where people had a unique opportunity to try the educational activities organised by the Energy and Technology Museum. The museum brought three exhibits that allow visitors to experience up close what people usually see only in textbooks or documentary films. One of the most impressive exhibits was a Tesla coil, an invention by Nikola Tesla, an inventor who showed how electricity can travel by air. Another exhibit was a Van de Graaff generator that allows a person to experience static charge. If you touch it, it makes your hair stand up.
After the end of the festival, Ignitis Renewables education space remained open and invites visitors to learn about renewable energy. Activities will take place every day until 13 July, from 2 pm to 9 pm. You can stop there on your way to or from the beach, spend an afternoon with your family, or just take a curious look around. The activities are for all, children, parents, and grandparents alike.
Every Saturday, visitors of the education space will be treated to special weekly activities that have already become favourites and were presented during the wind festival. On 28 June and 12 July, you can participate in kite workshops. Children will be able to decorate kites however they like. They will be able to colour, write, and draw, making each kite unique. Once they have finished making their kites, children will be able to try them out in the sea breeze, flying them over the dunes or on the beach.
On 21 June and 5 July, the kite workshop will not take place. Instead, there will be a special electric bicycle that generates electricity. Visitors will be able to pedal it and observe in real time how much energy their efforts generate. It is a great opportunity to understand how much effort is required to generate even a small amount of energy and a chance to appreciate the power of wind and the power of wind turbines.
Relaxation, games and discoveries all month long
Besides special Saturday activities, other engaging educational activities will be available daily, including Saturdays, from 2 pm to 9 pm. One of the main attractions – virtual reality goggles that allow you to go up to the top of a wind turbine, which is around 160 metres high. It's a unique opportunity to experience the scale of the turbine safely. This experience is visual and memorable because most people see what’s it like from the top of the turbine for the first time.
The Ignitis Renewables education space features a rotating fact stand that displays short, interesting facts about renewable energy. There you can quickly learn how much electricity was generated by wind farms in Lithuania last year, how much energy is generated by one rotation of a wind turbine, or what benefits renewable energy brings to the environment. The little ones will enjoy a drawing area and games that will encourage them to compete and talk about electricity, how is it made, how it reaches us and what it means to live sustainably.
