We
wanted to share a few shots of our region's latest and largest wind
project. We hope these will provide you with a sense of how much work
goes into building a wind plant!
These construction workers are putting
the framework in place for pouring the concrete base of a turbine.
Those huge steel pipes in the background are the concrete forms, which
are dropped into holes 15 to 25 feet deep and then filled. The concrete
takes 17-28 days to set.
Are these towers ever impressive! The
section on the right is the base; on the left is the top of the tower,
where the nacelle (the "head" where the blades attach and
the generator is located) rests. When it's all assembled, the tower
stands approximately 166 feet tall.
Some assembly required... here's a long
row of blades (on the left) and nacelles (the grey box shapes on the
right) waiting to be put together.
 
(above
left)
Turbines in place! Jan
Johnson for Pacific
(above right) More visitors
touring the facility.
Power Marketing, Rachel, Joan Brown from
Florida Power & Light, and Barrett Stambler
from Pacific Power Marketing having fun
during a tour of Stateline.
Amber
waves of wind:
the small footprint of a wind turbine makes it easy for farmers to
continue to grow their crops or graze their livestock while producing
clean, green energy- and cash. Farmers may earn $1500-$2000 per turbine
by leasing their land to developers.
Each
turbine
is sited to capture the maximum amount of wind. This often means that
turbines snake along the ridgelines, where the wind blows the steadiest.
Thanks
to David Barenberg, Peter West and Sonja Ling for the photos!
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