Grid Operator is a site-specific Augmented Reality (AR) mobile app, designed to work at Kanza Education and Science Park in Topeka, Kansas.
Grid Operator has 3 AR Lessons, or “Scenes”:
Solar Power: This scene features a scaled-down virtual version of the real solar powered building that is located on-site. This is also the Start Point, and the app experience will begin here. The real building features a functioning solar array, which is visible to students. This scene is designed to introduce students to the constituent parts of a solar array, and show them the basics of how light is translated into electricity.
Wind Power: This scene features scale models of several different sizes of wind turbines. This scene is located West, to the left, of the Start Point, near the real on-site wind turbine. This scene is designed to give students a basic understanding of how differently sized wind turbines produce electricity depending on wind conditions.
Grid Operator: This scene features a simulation of a Utility Grid Operator. This scene is located East, to the right of the Start Point, on the Education Pavilion overlooking the real substation. This experience puts the knowledge the students have gained in the first two scenes together, to give students a concept of how workers at power companies like Westar Energy have to balance the energy inputs of solar, wind, and traditional coal-fired power plants, with the real-time demands of a city like Topeka, Kansas.