Groton Wind Farm

NoBozo · 08-07-2012, 04:20 PM

Windturbines are great when they work. The BIG ones are very difficult to maintain because they are way up there on a tower. We have a Three Year Old ($3M) town owned 1.5 MW turbine. The nacelle is 188 feet above ground. Two months ago the gear box failed.

To fix it, the rotor disc has to be taken down, then the nacelle. The crane cost is about $10,000 a day+ set up costs, because it's a special crane for big heights and weights. The quickest way to fix it is to replace the large gearbox (30,000 pounds) with the nacelle on the ground. The gear box is rumored to cost +/- $450,000.

The Canadian company that built it went bankrupt two years ago..the 10 year warranty went "PooF". The town has no Spare Change so the turbine sits there doing nothing. It WAS a sight to see when it was running.

There is No Free Lunch

NB

08-07-2012, 04:20 PM	#11
NoBozo Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Portsmouth. RI Posts: 2,231 Thanks: 400 Thanked 460 Times in 308 Posts	Windturbines are great when they work. The BIG ones are very difficult to maintain because they are way up there on a tower. We have a Three Year Old ($3M) town owned 1.5 MW turbine. The nacelle is 188 feet above ground. Two months ago the gear box failed. To fix it, the rotor disc has to be taken down, then the nacelle. The crane cost is about $10,000 a day+ set up costs, because it's a special crane for big heights and weights. The quickest way to fix it is to replace the large gearbox (30,000 pounds) with the nacelle on the ground. The gear box is rumored to cost +/- $450,000. The Canadian company that built it went bankrupt two years ago..the 10 year warranty went "PooF". The town has no Spare Change so the turbine sits there doing nothing. It WAS a sight to see when it was running. There is No Free Lunch NB

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