PrairieWinds 1 topped out near Minot, ND

A video look at the last day of building a wind turbine.

Temperatures were in the single digits on the day the final rotor of the PrairieWinds 1 project was set.

The reason it didnt happen until Friday, Dec. 4, was because a blade was missing. A truck driver had backed into the final blade earlier, damaging it beyond repair. So, GE had to send a new blade, which took a few days. The blade arrived on site after 2:00 p.m. on Friday.

Once the blade was on site, crews had to attach the blades to the hub, which together is called the rotor.

Because the temperatures were so cold, the crews used diesel heaters to pump warm air into the turbine. The heat rises to the top, making the job a little less chilly. While the air temperature was about 5 degrees, the heater will warm the air about 20-30 degrees.

Once the last blade was on site and it was connected to the hub, crews needed good weather conditions to lift the last rotor. This one was set at about 9:00 p.m. that night.

Once all the rotors are set, crews need to do generator alignments. That can only be done when wind speeds are 16 miles per hour or less. Once the last 10 are complete, the turbines receive a mechanically complete certificate.

Now, GE needs to commission the turbines, which means doing more wiring and other finishing work inside the turbines. From now until the end of the year, a few turbines at a time will go on-line. That means theyll be making electricity and putting it on the grid.

Each turbine has a generating capacity of 1.5 megawatts. Even though Minot Wind 2 and PrairieWinds 1 are two separate projects, the turbines for each project are exactly the same. Construction on both projects began on August 10 and 18, respectively, this year.

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Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Basin
• Electric
• Power
• Cooperative
• Minot
• PrairieWinds
• North
• Dakota
• wind
• turbine
• hub
• blades
• rotor
• nacelle
• timelapse
• time
• lapse
• photography

[bg0821]

Look at the number of bolts to hold that wing on the hub. The wing is like an airplane length. Wonder what it weighs? probably not too much cause it needs to be lightweight but strong. nice video.

[pc2drth]

Each blade weighs 13,899 pounds.

[jthornto1978]

Excellent job on the editing, variety of shots, camera angles, and background music. Nice job, Basin!