NorthBound River Rat: Visiting a Canadian Wind Farm

Jim and I are currently in Thunder Bay, Canada! Jim was hired to install one of his data loggers onto one of the big cranes that are used to put up the turbines. So, we drove up yesterday, and woke up at 5 am EST to get out to the site, North East of here. We couldn't get our safety training right away, so we took a very quick visit to visit the "canyon" before 9. We then got our safety training, got our passes, and headed up the hill to watch a wind tower get put up.

(where we got our safety training)

driving to the turbine site

This is just one of the blades that goes on the turbine. This picture shows the height well, but doesn't do much to show the 150 foot length.

one section of the tower

The site is planning for 48 turbines. We saw at least 10 already up. I passed one sign today that said "stop the turbines". I have to wonder specifically what the objection is....as this farm is in an area not open to the public, viewable by any open road, or even heard by anyone not employed at the site.

The site we were at today. We watched the generator being placed on the tower, but then nothing else happened....for a VERY long time! While wind farms look for windy sites, they can't be erected in much wind....and there was too much today, though you wouldn't guess it standing on the ground, because the trouble wind was way up in the air. So, we waited and waited for it to dies down.....and I worked on something for my brother's wedding =) To get an idea of the scale of this turbine, notice the bright turquise porta potty well in front of the blades on the ground.

This is the crane Jim was to work on. We were waiting for them to put up the rotor for the turbine, so then the crane could be boomed down for Jim to do his install.

Our watching post

A finished turbine that we visited while waiting....just down the road.

I got to go inside the tower!

My pass. About 7 (almost 12 hours after arriving) it was decided the rotor would not be put up today. So, we headed back to Thunder Bay and ate at a delicious Japanese restaurant called Wasabi =) We ate sushi rolls and Pad Thai.....so good! And our first real meal since an early breakfast, so we were hungry!