Author Topic: Alternative energy - Windmills (Read 9728 times)

SwampDonkey · « **on:** October 06, 2006, 06:34:08 pm »

Work began in May this year clearing areas and building roads onto the back bone of Mars Hill.

Cranes have been erected on site to begin building the windmills.

You can see 3 cranes working and 3 existing TV/Radio towers.

A couple of the windmill columns are up. More photos to come as progress continues. They say there will be power running through the lines by month end.

Mooseherder · « **Reply #1 on:** October 06, 2006, 06:38:42 pm »

Have they caught the people who stole the wire yet?

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #2 on:** October 06, 2006, 06:44:24 pm »

Probably got stolen for the copper, eh? NB Powere has had theives steal wire this summer in NB also. I hadn't heard about them stealing wire from the windmill project. Apparently the wiring are going to be run underground. Actually, I think they said most of that work is already complete.

We went around the mountain last sunday and one house had a sign out by the road 'Honk if you hate the windmills'. Always someone downing something.

Mooseherder · « **Reply #3 on:** October 06, 2006, 07:06:48 pm »

The Bangor daily news online reported 30 thousand dollars worth of copper wire got stolen
from a storage unit about 3 weeks ago. I guess they haven't tried to sell to the scrap man yet.

Stephen1 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 06, 2006, 07:24:07 pm »

We were stopped outside of Montreal Central Station last monday for an hour. Someone stole some wire that had been laid above ground for the signals.it shut the whole place down for quite a while.

SPIKER · « **Reply #5 on:** October 06, 2006, 07:45:14 pm »

A month or so back a guy was highly electrofied, almost killed because he was cutting LIVE wires to steal the copper

I think he may get a DARWIN award soon. It was reported on the tv news & that he survived, but had lost parts of himself such as hands & feet from the electrocution as well as perminate brain damage, which aparently he had already?

Mark M

Onthesauk · « **Reply #6 on:** October 06, 2006, 09:59:32 pm »

My next door neighbor is a project manager on a couple of windmill projects. My BIL did an article for his construction magazine and mentioned the following:

"The 127 turbine towers stand 250 feet high, and the blades are 130 feet long. The nacelle and hub combination weighs 90 tons and each of the three blades adds another 7 tons. The foundation is a 14-foot-diameter column of post-tentioned concrete set in solid rock from 25 to 32 feet deep, depending on ground conditions. Amazing stuff."

He has finished one project near Walla Walla, Washington and is nearing completion on the second one near Ellensburg, Washington. He mentioned that Modern Marvel is coming out to film this month for a future TV show.

Furby · « **Reply #7 on:** October 06, 2006, 10:05:33 pm »

I've seen a pile of blades being transported this year.
Was seeing caravans of them in OH last spring.

Ron Wenrich · « **Reply #8 on:** October 06, 2006, 10:14:48 pm »

Last year I flew out to San Diego and it was amazing to see those windmills from that high up. Supposedly they're a bird cuisinart.

fencerowphil (Phil L.) · « **Reply #9 on:** October 06, 2006, 11:10:12 pm »

Hey, Modern Marvels on the History Channel has already been showing those windmills. I never would have imagined that they were so huge, nor that they were so productive, nor that we have been so slow to get with the wind program!

Imagine what last year's money spent in Afghanistan and Iraq could have done, if put into wind and solar and superconductivity in the U.S. of A.! Well, maybe next year, huh?

Phil L.

Mooseherder · « **Reply #10 on:** October 06, 2006, 11:22:02 pm »

Hopefully, we have enough windmills going up to give OPEC the Dang shivers.

Alternative energy has to be our future.
Otherwise, they'll have us over the barrel like they do now.

farmerdoug · « **Reply #11 on:** October 07, 2006, 03:46:44 am »

I always like how the naysayers say how the return on investment does not justify the projects but when the price of fuel rises high they holler that we should have done it years ago. If it did not pay then why are there so many projects? Besides I like the benefits for the enviroment. They argue about the birds killed by the turbine blades but how about the damage from the pollution from the power plants and the birds killed by the power lines. We find dead birds under the power lines every year here.

Doug

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #12 on:** October 07, 2006, 09:56:57 am »

Another windmill going up.

Dan_Shade · « **Reply #13 on:** October 07, 2006, 10:11:37 am »

i like all of the alternative energy ideas. wind, solar, tidal, whatever will work. we're in the beginning, we look back and laugh at the commodore 64, but it was a big deal in the day!

I say we cut the lines to the nay sayers houses. you wanna play, you gotta pay somewhere.

Onthesauk · « **Reply #14 on:** October 07, 2006, 11:07:21 am »

Neighbor tells me the new ones don't kill birds like the old ones did, apparently because of the size. Big enough that they are able to see and avoid them.

tcsmpsi · « **Reply #15 on:** October 07, 2006, 01:06:35 pm »

Out in west Texas, we've had windmills for miles far as one can see for several years

Down here, they have been going into people's attics (where they can gain outside access through eaves, gable ends, etc) and taking wiring and out of outside air conditioning/heating units.

Yep, there's been a few trying to get 'big' wire who haven't fared too well.

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #16 on:** October 10, 2006, 02:07:35 pm »

The first turbine up, no propellers yet.

breederman · « **Reply #17 on:** October 10, 2006, 08:44:34 pm »

How many are there going to be?

SawDust_Studios · « **Reply #18 on:** October 10, 2006, 11:03:33 pm »

I'm all for consevation, but I'd be willing to lose an occasional bird around my area to get my electric bill down.

I know that ain't politically correct, but we live in an area where the electric competition really don't matter much as there is none. We've even went as far as looking at the personal windmills and solar to help defray some of the costs and to act as a backup. We have frequent outages as we are rural and high winds tend to knock down trees, which I get to saw.

And some genious engineer decided to build a relay station near a local stream that tends to flood.

These alternatives are really becoming more affordable and anything you put back into the grid, the local electric companies got to pay for it. Now that part, I really like.

Get money from the electric company for electric.

Quote from: Onthesauk on October 07, 2006, 11:07:21 am

Neighbor tells me the new ones don't kill birds like the old ones did, apparently because of the size. Big enough that they are able to see and avoid them.

SwampDonkey · « **Reply #19 on:** October 11, 2006, 04:51:29 am »

28 I think.

Here is a Blog with photos. I've checked a Boston news site and the info there is the same.

News:

Author Topic: Alternative energy - Windmills (Read 9728 times)