Wind Today - Q2 2008 - (Page 38)

Site Supervisor Kirk Garlick and Operations Manager John Opris have worked at the enXco V wind farm since 1989. The enXco V wind farm is located in Solano County, CA, approximately 65 miles northeast of San Francisco. Bird’s Landing, CA supervisor, started working as field technicians for KENETECH at WP 89 in 1989. At that time, KENETECH was facing financial challenges. “KENETECH designed and manufactured new turbines, using variable pitch, power electronics, and remote operations,” says Opris. He says the company patented their variable speed technology, but there were technical, mechanical and structural problems with the new machines. “When the deficiencies brought the turbines down,” explains Opris, “the company started to dissolve and entered into bankruptcy. According to Opris, Zond Wind Energy bought KENETECH’s patent for variable speed technology, and later sold the patent to Enron. GE Energy acquired Enron in 2002 and now holds the patent. WP 89, like a large portion of KENETECH’s assets, was sold off. enXco purchased the project in 1998. New Vision New Vision “As owners, enXco had new ideas and a vision for this wind farm,” says Opris. The name of the wind farm was changed to enXco V, and the little shedlike building technicians worked from was replaced by a larger building that houses an office complex and maintenance gararge. “With KENETECH, six of us worked here to service 600 turbines, making us ‘working foremen’ with one crew person per 100 turbines,” says Garlick. He says enXco, recognizing that the machines were 10 years old and needed attention, doubled the manpower to 12 technicians. At that time, Garlick accepted the role as site supervisor, and Opris became operations manager. “These machines require a lot of work,” says Opris. He explains that 94% of the work is up-tower, and there is no inside area on the lattice towers or in the nacelle. “It’s all open architecture, 60 to 80 feet above the ground, totally exposed to the elements,” Garlick says. The veteran technicians say enXco’s commitment to safety brought enhanced quality assurance and quality control to the site. “They secured vendors to supply parts and provided reverse engineering services that helped us take parts from inoperable machines and build replacement parts for other machines,” says Opris. He says most of the 56-100 turbine’s subcomponents can be rebuilt, except for the blades. “Blades are the only thing we can’t rebuild,” says Opris. The smaller blades are too costly, and vendors don’t have enough demand for them to justify their production. Garlick explains that technicians at enXco V are assigned territories so the same two people work on each set of wind turbines. “The wind here runs a little differently on each ridge, and our machines seem to have their own personalities and idiosyncrasies,” he says. It helps to have the same people working consistently on the same wind turbines. “These little machines operate well considering they are now 20 years old,” says Opris. However, they do require a lot of unscheduled maintenance,” he explains. epow Repower Jim Walker, vice chairman of enXco, reported in November 2005 that the company had received approval from the Solano County Board of Supervisors to partially repower enXco V. “The approval by Solano County of the permit for repowering at the enXco V site is another big step in enXco’s efforts to bring the latest WIND TODA Y Second Quarter 2008 Installation of a GE 1.5 rotor to its nacelle following maintenance. 38

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Wind Today - Q2 2008

Wind Today - Q2 2008 Contents WINDPOWER 2008 - Host City - Houston WINDPOWER 2008 Special Events CanWEA 2008: Fast Forward to Wind Global Wind Plant Ownership Top 15 States with Wind Energy Installed Ranking the Percentage of State Electricity from Wind Largest Wind Farms in the United States Owners with the Most Wind Power Assets in the United States Rick Perry Bluegrass Ridge, Cow Branch, and Conception Wind Farms Loess Hills Wind Farm Bob Emick enXco V and enXco V Repower Climb Assist Devices GWEC Market Forecast Ports of Entry Satisfy Customers WINDPOWER 2008 Schedule Calendar Seven Principal Financing Structures Used in Utility-Scale Wind Projects Raising Project Funds Through Private Placements The Minnesota Flip Business Model Wind Resource Glossary WT Transmission Corn Plus Coop Adds Wind Energy Wind Resource Maps Ryan Orban, Iberdrola Renewables Liz Cussans, TransAlta Wind Bolton & Menk Trachte Port of Corpus Christi NPPD Interstate Truck Rental & Sales Dr. Shrink Aldridge Electric HYTORC Product Surveys Ad Index

Wind Today - Q2 2008

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