Entering the doorway, two stories up at the base of the wind tower, you find yourself in the stack of electrical and electronic equipment known as the E-module. Climb up another 2 stories and one stands on the top of the E-mods, next to an elevator which can deliver a person up the shaft, yawning above your head another 70 metres. However, during construction we don’t have the benefit of this luxury, so many, many rungs will be climbed, up and down, through the process of preparing the tower for power. You definitely get fit!

After the tower sections have been lifted into place, and the nacelle and hub placed atop them, it's time to begin connecting the different sections electrically. Generators are hooked up to temporary lighting systems and the crew goes to work. Grounding is of high importance, and copper ground cables are connected between the E-mods and the transformer in the ‘basement’ of the structure, and to the grid of copper grounding rods in the concrete base under the earth.

Several preliminary cables are then dropped from top to bottom. These include a control cable to monitor the pitch of the wind tower’s blades, which can be manipulated to take advantage of different wind speeds or slow down in very high winds. Also, a fiber optic cable is dropped, which is used by maintenance technicians to monitor the ‘vital signs’ of the turbine at all times.

Soon, the electrical crew sets up a powerful winch in the nacelle, and two huge reels of cable outside at the foot of the tower. These are the conductors that will carry new wind energy from the turbine to the transmission line, and up to the sub-station. It’s an all day affair setting up for and then winching up these cables, and requires much hanging from the rail-ladder and securing cable to the tower’s inside surface.

Suddenly, a thunderstorm bears down on us! It’s everyone out of the tower, as they can be dangerous lighting hazards. Tomorrow is another day at the wind-park.