Wind Turbine Tour - 2019 . . . Gratiot County, MI
Updated: 08/25/19
Near The Church of God Campground are hundreds of wind turbines. One of our members, Gary, volunteered last year to try and set up a tour for this year. He accomplished his task. It was a very informative tour conducted by VERY knowledgeable people.
We would recommend a tour of a wind turbine facility and park. Even if you disagree with wind as a source of power, the information and technology information is fascinating.
Without using names, these staff
members answered all our questions.
The panels shown on the screen were
full of information.
Fred photographed them during the presentation.
We
will not re-key the information already available on the panels.
We encourage you to click on the
thumbnail (framed)
small
photographs on this page to open the photograph to read the information.
To close the photograph and return to the page, click on
your BACK ARROW.)
The
climber is attached to two cables.
>>> One is a safety cable. Safety is job
#1 in the entire wind park.
>>> The
other is a 'climb assist' that removes 125 pounds from the climber's weight to make
climbing the 460 feet tower easier.
They climb the tower and inspect at least twice a year or more frequently when necessary Other times, drones perform inspections of the outside of the wind turbines.
Each wind turbine is monitored 24/7 in an office in North Carolina. (SCADA = Supervision Control and Data Acquisition)
The
Machine Head is a very complicated part of the wind turbine.
It is full of motors, sensors and other equipment.
Gratiot
county is circled on the map. DTE currently owns 135 wind turbines in the
Gratiot wind park. Other companies also have wind turbines in Gratiot county.
Duke Energy erected a lot of the wind turbines - that is their expertise in the
industry.
A wind turbine reachs it's rated speed only 30% of the time.
The voltage level for the wind park is monitored in Ann Arbor, MI.
It is at least a three year process
to establish wind park.
There are over
100 permits required.
Actual construction of a wind turbine is two weeks
after the 700 ton base has passed inspection.
The cost of one wind turbine is approximately $1.6 million.
The
specs on this sheet are very interesting.
The Anatomy of a Wind Turbine . . .
Output is 690 volts ... stepped up to 34,500 volts ... transmission voltage is 138,000 volts.
The
Pitch System is almost automatic . . . amazing what it does with no human
assistance.
Generator gearbox specs . . .
Use your Smart Phone to convert
Metric to Imperial units.
The Electrical Grid
We
followed the DTE staff down the access road to a wind turbine.
The farmers can plant alongside the access road and around the wind turbine. A single vehicle could turn around at the base but we had to back out because we had six vehicles in our tour. They can still farm 97% of their land.
Land lease is for 20 years, renewable for 10, +10, +10 and
etc. Income is based on megawatts generated.
The
photograph at the right was made using a 'panoramic' setting on our guides camera. A sixth
grade school student gave him the suggested camera setting.
As they practice safety first, we had to wear hard hats and eye protection to be under the wind turbine blades.
The color changes are due to the sun and clouds. >>>
It is
really all white. >>>
He told us to hold onto our hard hat
when we looked up. It will fall off.
Fred rested his camera on the
wind turbine for this photograph.
The bolts attaching the wind turbine
to the base are covered by a hard
plastic to protect them.
The concrete base weighs 700 tons.
The base is
ten feet in the ground.
Our guide in the classroom is in the
white shirt. For very detailed questions
he could ask one of the others for
assistance. Or, they would just chime in.
The access door was locked.
The wind turbine pieces are manufactured in Iowa, South Dakota and Brazil.
Blades are 130 feet long . . . weigh 7 tons each
The blades turn at 800 to 1,600 rpm . . . The blade tips can reach a speed of 200 mph.
When you see blades not turning, either there is no wind or the electricity is not needed.
The gearbox weighs 43 tons.
The 40 gallons of 350 weight Amsoil oil
in the gearbox
lasts for seven years.
An oil change 330 feet in the air is a difficult task
.
Wind turbines near the one we visited and the one we visited.
The most frequent complaints from people living nearby is noise and shadow flicker.
The security of the wind park is more aimed at avoiding cyber attacks than physical attacks.
If you came here from the M&M page . . .
follow this link back to the M&M page
Then, click on the small 'Tuesday link' above the date on the right side of the page.