ERMU Misc. 08-16-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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111111A0111111 111111 IIIIN Eli I MIN ir lor Wind turbine maintenance, parts growing issues at municipal installations Municipal ut4lities have corn- notably unreliable While the servicing existing installations four years of operation in Moor- f plied with Minnesota's green general unpression today is that Mooi head Public Service head, with the wind turbine man- pricing mandate and Renewable those problems have been solved, (MPS) owns and operates two ufacturer providing maintenance I Energy Objective (REO), in part, quality service, parts, and techni- 750-kilowatt wind turbines personnel from their office in - by installing wind turbines In cians have become elusive MPS' first turbine, `Zephyr,' was Marshall.Then there was a mer '' _• fact, programs like Moorhead Problems with gearboxes, oil installed in 1999, its second tur-. er, with key service and manage- -- Public Services' "Capture The pumps, blades and software have bine, `Freedom' was installed in ment staff leaving the company - - - Wind®", Missouri River Energy all led to substantial lost produc- 2001 Energy Services Coordma- Both turbines have been under a - Services' "RiverWinds®" and tion at municipal wind installa- for Kevin Bengtson views the five-year parts and labor warran- Southern Minnesota Municipal tions if these problems occurred turbines as a good, environmen- ty, with an additional mainte Power Agency's Wind Power with a car, there would be a story tally-friendly resource, but ac- nance contract, since their instal ;'; _ 3 ': P gutility " g Recently, programs meet and exceed the on 60 Minutes and talk of a o- knowledges the is haven lation Recentl there has been •�'•=,.�rY �;r good faith effort mandate" set tential recall As it stands, the some trouble"with availability of -"a rash of problems," Bengtson -,0,T.%=!.;.!- forth "tal. forth by the Minnesota legisla- public continues to demand the turbines said With warranty times dwin- �=`_ _ �•�'-� ture wind-generated electricity and "When they run they have a tiling, he is concerned However,there may be a fly in politicians continue to pass re- good power output," Bengtson One issue seems to be the lo- ""' - the ointment that could affect the newable-friendly legislation All said "But people tend to ignore cation of community-based wind economic viability of future wind of which keeps the primary inter- operation and maintenance costs projects in relation to the mann- Environmentally friendly? This projects for these small, commu- est of manufacturers and con- that are still there, just like any facturer's service centers Corn- picture of a burning German nity-based utilities Wind tui- struction companies focused on piece of mechanical equipment " wind turbine was taken from an hires of a decade or two ago were new installations rather than Things went well for the first Wind see page 2 please Irishman's 'III Wind' website