Everyone that attended!
BGI Members that attended - Amy, Katie, Ryan, Carmen, Stephen(holding up windturbine)
We Arrived!
The power grid that the electricity is fed into.
The nuclear power plant that shares the grid with the wind turbines
Carmen hugging the wind turbine
Inside the wind turbine
Fact Sheet and Notes taken by Katie
Fact sheet: GE 1.5 MW Turbine
| Sweep
of Rotor
|
136 ft
off the ground
|
| Tower
Height to Hub
|
262 ft
|
| Total
Height
|
389 ft
|
| Blade
Length
|
122 ft
|
| Rotor
Diameter
|
252
|
| Wind
Turbine Generator (WTG)
|
General
Electric 1.5 MW
|
| Number
of Tower Sections
|
3
|
| Number
of Blades per WTG
|
3
|
| WTG
Estimated Total Weight
|
495,000
lbs
|
| LaSalle
County IL setbacks
|
584 ft
from road ROW (1.5*height)
|
|
|
584 ft
from railroad (1.5*height)
|
|
|
584 ft
from other structures (1.5*height)
|
|
|
486 ft
from non-participating property (1.25*h)
|
|
|
1200 ft
from non participating residences/parcels
|
|
|
750 ft
from participating residences
|
| Added
Value
|
A 1.5
WTG on 80 acres adds $120 an acre to annual
per-acre income
|
|
|
Access
road payments of $1.00 per lineal foot is the
equivalent of $3000 per acre rent.
|
Notes:
Grand Ridge Wind Farm – Operated by Invenergy
· 140 Turbines
· Category 3 wind
· Powergrid on site
· Invenergy pays transformer fees in order to use the electricity grid lines
· Turbines run at 100% only during 37% of the year
· Every 11 turbines has 1 technician who earns $16-32 /hour
· Costs:
o $3million for structure, maintenance, and land
o 7-8 years before profit is made
o 30% tax credit
o Participating farmers get annual payment
· Parts:
o Blades from ND, SD, and MN
o Tower- Trinity Tower – IL
o Pitch system – IL
o Nacelle – east or west coast
o Gear box – IL
o Generators – oversees
· Power:
o 15-16 turbines per substation
o 1600 turbines = 1 nuclear powerstation
o Voltage increase from turbine to substation to main station to grid: 5.75 V à34.5 kV à138 kV à 250 kV
o Turbine consumes 3-5kW to function, needs 8-10 kW to yaw
· Construction:
o Lightning arrestors on blade tips
o Cables run to turigine in 12 inch wide trench that is 4 feet deep
§ Farmers can inspect trenches if they wish
o Underground warning tape is placed 1 foot above cable to prevent breakage.
o Base of turbine is 7 ft deep, 50 ft diameter, which is 400 yds^3 of concrete
o Blade is 122 ft long, 14000 lbs
o Tower is 80 m tall
o Towers are placed ~1500 ft apart and not in rows!
o Blades are fiberglass, balsa wood and hypoxy so that they are flexible
o 148, 7 ft long bolts extend from tower to base of concrete
o
· Function:
o 4 yaw motors
o 3.5 m/s is cut in speed = 800 kW production
o 63 mph is top speed
o Last 20% of blade does 90% of the work
o Built to withstand 120mph for 20s
o Best wind is 15 m/s or 30 mph
o Nacelle can yaw 2.5 times around before needing to unwind
o Batteries are stored in the nacelle in a case the tower loses power and the blades need to be pitched
o Nacelle 11-20 rpm, which causes the generator to have 1000-1400rpm