As the winds continue to blow across Antelope County, resumption of construction of wind turbines for the Prairie Breeze Wind farm is anyone’s guess.
Invenergy spokesman James Williams briefed the Antelope County Board of Supervisors about the status of the wind farm during last week’s meeting.
There was much to discuss between Williams and the supervisors in a free-flowing presentation which occurred near the end of the meeting.
Williams said 98 wind turbines have been constructed and 20 more remain. Of those which have been put up a number will need to be replaced.
Last month, Invenergy (owner of the wind farm) and General Electric acknowledged to The Elgin Review that a blade manufacturing defect had been detected on a number of blades.
General Electric, sometime this spring, will be replacing “a limited number” of turbine blades.
The blades’ anomaly has pushed back the date for completion of the wind farm which was supposed to have been completed in the first quarter of 2014.
To date, replacement wind turbine blades from General Electric have yet to arrive in Elgin.
The high winds being experienced in Antelope County this winter have hampered progress on the wind farm. Williams said when wind speeds are 20-25 miles per hour or higher, workers “don’t fly the rotary assembly.”
Still, Williams said the good news regarding blade replacement is that there are still cranes on site which will be used to take down, replace and raise the new blades into place when conditions are favorable. He said all the wind turbines should be in place and ready to produce energy by the summer months.
When completed, Williams said, Prairie Breeze will be the largest wind farm in the state.
For the complete story, see the print edition of The Elgin Review
