Wind Today - Q3 2008 - (Page 24)

Cattle share the land with the Solano Wind Project turbines. Bertolino says the Final EIR for the Solano Wind Project, for a 50 MW wind energy project, was certified in 1993. Based on the success of the 5 MW demonstration project, says Bertolino, SMUD decided to repower the wind farm. Phase 1 In 1999, SMUD replaced two of the original 330 kW turbines with a single 660 kW Vestas V47 wind turbine. Repowering the entire project —23 V47 660 kW wind turbines—required approval of a Final Supplemental EIR No. 1, thereby increasing the size of the project from 5 MW to 50 MW. The supplemental EIR was published in July 2002. ‘Phase 1 was built in stages,” says Bertolino, with one wind turbine installed in 1999, 15 units installed in 2003, and seven units in 2004.” Phase 2 SMUD began planning for Phase 2 of the Solano Wind Project in 2005. According to Bertolino, Phase 2 included the reconductoring of interconnections to the existing Russell Substation; and the construction of underground and overhead electrical systems, communications sytems, an operations and maintenance (O&M) facility, and entrance and service roads. “When we started planning for Phase 2,” says Bertolino, “Vestas’ V90 3 MW wind turbines were the newest technology.” Since they’d had good success with Vestas’ V47 machines, SMUD decided to invest in Vestas’ newest state of the art V90s. “Since wind turbine technology evolves steadily,” says Bertolino, “we wanted to buy into the technology early and ensure long-term support from the manufacturer.” As a result of SMUD’s willingness to purchase the V90s, the Solano Wind The Solano Wind Project is located in Solano County, CA, about halfway between Sacramento and San Fancisco. Rio Vista, CA “Wind turbine No. 8, a Vestas V90 turbine, has been charted with the highest capacity factor of any V90 3 MW wind turbine,” says Jon Bertolino. Project became the first North American wind farm to install Vestas V90 wind turbines. “Vestas provides fantastic support,” says Bertolino. “We’re a willing partner with them as their North American test site.” “We initially installed eight Vestas V90 wind turbines with a total capacity of 24 MW,” says Bertolino. This part of the project was known as “Phase 2A,” and the construction process was performed within 90-days, he says. According to Bertolino, the wind turbines for this part of the project were shipped from Denmark and transported 50 miles by truck from the Port of Sacramento to the project site in February, 2006. Within three months, he says, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), as well as turbine commissioning, was successfully completed. In 2007, SMUD finished “Phase 2B” of the Solano Wind Project with another 21 V90 wind turbines. The 21 Phase 2B turbines were commissioned on Dec. 21, 2007. Bertolino says plans are currently underway for a third phase, to add another 128 MW of installed capacity. Construction for that project is expected to begin in 2009 with commercial operation by the start of the 2011 wind season. Phase 3 is expected to cost approximately $250 million. Combined project cost for supply and installation of the wind turbines installed on Phase 1 and 2 was $120 million. Perf erformance Notable T urbine Performance When Bertolino boasts about the performance of the wind farm’s V47 wind turbines, he credits the technicians, as well as the design of the machines themselves, for the turbines’ reliability. “Sometimes there isn’t enough wind for any other turbine out here to run, but these V47s are running,“ says Bertolino. He reports that the turbines at WIND TODA Y Third Quarter 2008 24

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Wind Today - Q3 2008

Wind Today - Q3 2008 Contents 24th Annual CanWEA Conference and Trade Show Vancouver, BC, Conference Host City CanWEA Banquet/Awards WINDPOWER 2008 Review WINDPOWER 2008 Awards AWEA Fall Symposium 2008 Solano Wind Project Large Wind Turbine Manufacturers Forum Manufacturers of Wind Turbines Installed in the United States Wind Turbine Manufacturers Installed Capacity Prince Wind Energy Project Education and Training for A New Wind Frontier Joyce McLean Jim Walker Supply Chain Challenges and Solutions . . . from the Turbine OEM Perspective . . . from the Component OEM Perspective . . . from the Base Industry Perspective . . . from the Investor Perspective U.S. Wind Industry Installations Exceed 20,000 MW 20% by 2030 Summary Analysis Global Wind Turbine Procurement: Strategies and Contract Structures Wind Turbine Acquisition WT News: Association News WT News: Government WT News: Canada WT News: United States WT News: International MMS Close to Issuing Leases for Offshore Testing of Renewable Resources Expert Says Turbine Related Deaths May Cause Significant Impact to Bat Population Windpower Turbines Spinning Again on Prince Edward Island Map: Wind Turbine, Tower, and Blade Manufacturers in the United States A Look at Regional Entities U.S. Installed Wind Capacity State Wind Resource Rankings Wind Resource Maps (Wisconsin and Maine) Bruce Bailey, AWS Truewind John Keating, Canadian Hydro Composotech Crane Service Inc. GPCo Inc. Morgan AM&T 3M Bennett International Group Wind Farms Completed in the United States Wind Farms Under Construction in the United States Glossary Product Surveys Calendar Ad Index

Wind Today - Q3 2008

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