News | Energy Efficiency

http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/by-technology/wind/first-wind-turbine-put-in-place-at-puget-sound%e2%80%99s-washington-project.html

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has constructed its first wind power turbine in south-east Washington’s Garfield County, in the first phase of its 343MW Lower Snake River Wind Project.

The project is to be complete in the first few months of 2012 and will be the PSE’s largest wind-power project in operation. It will generate enough electricity to serve up to 100,000 homes.
Turbine manufacturer Siemens Energy completed the first of the project’s 430 ft high turbines last week, after originally being delayed for a week due to high winds, reaching at times 70mph.
The nacelles, which contain the turbines’ gearboxes and power generators, are being manufactured at a Siemens plant in Hutchinson, Kansas. Siemens is also manufacturing the turbine blades in a factory in Fort Madison, Iowa.
Each rotor measures 331ft in diameter, more than the length of a football field. The towers are bolted to 8 1/2ft thick concrete foundations that weigh over 600 tonnes. The turbines themselves weigh over 340 tonnes.
‘This project, like our existing Hopkins Ridge and Wild Horse wind facilities, is supporting a cleaner, greener energy future for Washington state. But more than that, it is creating good jobs and a stronger, more secure energy future for our nation,’ said PSE president and CEO Kimberly Harris.
PSE and its lead contractor, RES Americas, with Siemens Energy and other subcontractors, started constructing the project in May 2010. So far the work has focused on building access roads and installing underground power cables that will deliver the turbines’ electricity to the large on-site substations, also currently under construction.
Siemens will be responsible for the maintenance of PSE’s Phase 1 wind turbines, while PSE will manage the production and transmission of the facility’s electric power.
Work on the project’s 15,000 square foot operations and maintenance building on the outskirts of Pomeroy is also progressing under the general contractor, Opp & Seibold.
Chairman of the Garfield County Commission, Dean Burton, said, ‘It’s exciting to see the first wind turbines going up at the Lower Snake River project. Puget Sound Energy has been a strong partner in our community and its wind project is bringing a lot of benefits to the people of Garfield County.’
Phase I of the Lower Snake River Wind Project will boost the utility’s wind-power capacity by eight per cent. In combination with PSE’s two other wind projects, the facilities will produce enough electricity to serve about 230,000 households.
Harris said that PSE is pursuing federal stimulus-package funding and state incentives for using apprentice labor for at least 15 per cent of the construction work. These incentives lower the cost of the project for the utility’s customers. In addition, the apprentice programme supports skills training and apprentice development in a variety of different trades.