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NOVEMBER 2006
Pombo Upset
Big Missouri Wind
Alabama Water Testing
   

Wind Turbines Big in Missouri, in More Ways Than One

Club Delegation Tours New Wind Farm

Four Sierra Club energy activists -- Susan Brown, Antonio Cutolo-Ring, Ron McLinden and Claus Wawrzinek -- recently returned from an open house at the new 27-turbine Blue Grass Ridge wind farm north of Kansas City. The facility is being developed by Tom Carnahan's Wind Capital Group with financing from John Deere.

McLinden says the Club has been working with Associated Electric Cooperatives, Inc, which also operates coal plants, to consider alternatives to coal. “This one wind farm won't do the whole job, but it’s a huge step in the right direction. Efficiency programs are another key part of the solution."

Speaking of huge, McLinden says the turbines are “enormous” -- the tower consists of four segments, each more than 60 feet high, and the three-bladed rotors are nearly 290 feet across. See for yourself. And read more below.
Sierra Club activists (left to right) Antonio Cutolo-Ring, Susan Brown, and Ron McLinden pose with Wind Capital Group President Tom Carnahan and two members of his team in front of a wind turbine rotor waiting to become part of Missouri's energy supply mix.

Here are some excerpts from McLinden’s report:

October 20, 2006—Gentry County, Missouri

This afternoon, Claus Wawrzinek and I attended an open house event near King City (in Gentry county, about 75 miles north of Kansas City) to see the wind farm being installed by Wind Capital Group (Tom Carnahan's firm) for Associated Electric Cooperatives, Inc., the umbrella entity for 51 local electric coops in Missouri. Club members Susan Brown and Antonio Cutolo-Ring, who are also active in Concerned Citizens of Platte County, also attended.

This wind farm will consist of 27 wind turbines for a total generating capacity of 57 MW. Output from three of the turbines will meet Columbia's renewable energy requirement, and power from the remaining 24 turbines will go to the coop.

As we waited to go on a guided tour, two huge trucks hauling rotor blades arrived with a Highway Patrol escort.

We visited one of the turbine sites, as well as the site of the switching station where power from the 27 turbines will be fed into the electric power grid.

These turbines are enormous. The tower segments are each 60-80 feet long. The three-bladed rotor is similarly huge -- each blade is nearly 140 feet long -- and will be attached to the shaft of a generator housed in a nacelle at the top of the tower. The rotor tip on the completed turbines will be more than 400 feet above the ground.

The towers are built here in the U.S., but the generators and blades are built in India and come by ship to Houston, from which they are trucked to the site.

Most of the turbine sites had the first tower section in place, and at least 15 were visible from one of our stops. Final assembly of the turbines is awaiting arrival of a much larger crane that will lift the upper tower sections, nacelle, and blades into position. (That crane is still working on another wind farm.)

This project is popular with citizens of Gentry county as it brings new permanent jobs. About a dozen technicians will maintain the generators once they are in operation. In addition, landowners will receive $3,000-$5,000 per year per turbine for use of their land.

Along with seeing the turbines, this was an opportunity to talk with some of the other people who came to see the project.

State Rep. Jim Guest acknowledged with a grin that we are on different sides of the factory farm issue, but in agreement in support of wind.

Sen. David Klindt leaves the Senate at the end of the year and will work for Missouri electric coops. We had a good conversation with him about opportunities for efficiency and conservation.

We also talked with Jim Jura, CEO of AECI. (Ozark Chapter energy leaders have already had two meetings with him this year, both arranged by Carnahan.) Jim said AECI has just announced plans for a third wind farm. He also expressed strong support for a statewide energy code that would make new buildings more efficient, and said he's working on programs to reduce electric demand.

—John Byrne Barry

Photos by Wind Capital Group and Claus Wawrzinek

 

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