[This post continues from Building a Windpark: Part I, The Substation]
Driving up to the staging area where the wind turbine components were being unloaded, it feels like coming upon a military air force project of some kind. Huge tubular sections and long, curved wings lay in orderly rows. The crew assembles and then piles into trucks for the ride up to the construction site.
The first part of the 34 Enercon turbine structures (much like the ones in the video below), at the new Bear Mountain Wind-park, near Dawson Creek BC, Canada, was actually completed the previous Summer. Concrete bases, with the steel foundation rings of the towers set into them, dot the forested road every 300 meters or so.
The next component to be added is the electrical equipment. There's much more than I expected! Four large cubes, approximately four stories high, stacked one atop the other, sit in the base. Then, the first tower section is sleeved over the stack. Cranes and flat-bed trucks jockey for positions along the road, as the human work crews scurry like ants around them to load and unload their cargos.
Working on wind-farm is definitely a crane-related affair, like these ones. Being familiar with rigging and hoisting, as well as operation of fork-lifts, bucket-lifts and more, will help a person get a position with a crane company contracted to perform wind-farm construction.
You will also get to know all about safety at heights, and experience the thrill of standing on a tower platform, with new sections floating through the air towards you like alien ships coming in for a landing.
After the first two tower sections have been fitted into place, and fastened together with over 100 foot long bolts from the inside, a giant crawler crane makes its appearance. It will lift the final two sections into place, as well as the crowning component, the nacelle, hub and blade assembly. Its often hurry-up-and-wait, followed by a mad dash of activity, hard work, long days, and very satisfying.
Other cool stuff on Celsias:
US Wind Turbine Manufacture Will Increase
Turning the Tide: New Energy Technology
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