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Newly Installed Wind Turbines Idled by Minnesota's Winter
TwinCities.com ^ | 01/23/2010 | Tad Vezner

Posted on 02/01/2010 10:54:44 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta

Last year, about a dozen Minnesota communities dreamed of clean, green energy: spinning windmills powering hundreds of homes.

Now, months after the deadline, the windmills stand largely immobile, and communities are still waiting for the power to flow.

Eleven cities, including North St. Paul and Anoka, are participating in the wind turbine project, each getting a 115-foot windmill via the Minnesota Municipal Power Association, or MMPA.

The turbines were to be fully operational by Nov. 7. To date, the number is zero.

One reason offered this week at a North St. Paul City Council meeting: hydraulic fluid and lubricating oil in the turbines' gear boxes.

In cold weather, the fluid turns gel-like and doesn't flow, said Derick Dahlen, president of Avant Energy, which manages the MMPA.

That can be particularly problematic if the turbines are already at a standstill.

To fix the problem, a contractor installed heating elements this week in the turbines.

In addition, heat tracing is likely to be added to the hydraulic lines and lubrication oil system.

The windmills each cost about $417,000 and have been erected in Anoka, Arlington, Brownton, Buffalo, Chaska, East Grand Forks, Le Sueur, North St. Paul, Olivia, Shakopee and Winthrop, as well as at the MMPA's energy park in Faribault.

To fund the project, MMPA sold $5 million in zero-interest bonds.

(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energy; wind
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1 posted on 02/01/2010 10:54:45 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

Fortunately, the demand for electricity falls to almost nothing during the long, dark, cold winter nights.


2 posted on 02/01/2010 10:56:13 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (We have the 1st so that we can call on people to rebel. We have 2nd so that they can.)
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To: Dr. Scarpetta
To fund the project, MMPA sold $5 million in zero-interest bonds.

What kind of a idiot buys a no-yield bond? Oh, never mind. It's Minnesota.

3 posted on 02/01/2010 10:57:05 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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Not the Minnesota wind turbines, as these work....

4 posted on 02/01/2010 10:57:18 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: ClearCase_guy

Minnesota has cold weather? Who knew? TV station KSTP cleverly calls the wind turbines “no-spin zones.”

Read more: http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/02/01/no-spin-zones/#ixzz0eJQKu0wu


5 posted on 02/01/2010 10:59:21 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

It never occurred to them that Minnesota would be cold in the winter?

Wasn’t it last winter that they couldn’t run the school buses because the ethanol-mix fuel turned gelatinous in the cold?


6 posted on 02/01/2010 11:00:19 AM PST by Tax-chick (Thou hast well drunken, man - who's the fool now?)
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To: Dr. Scarpetta
To fix the problem, a contractor installed heating elements this week in the turbines.

Said heating elements powered by...?

7 posted on 02/01/2010 11:00:59 AM PST by COBOL2Java (Big government more or less guarantees rule by creeps and misfits.)
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

What happens when beurocrats and greenies try to become power engineers....sheesh...somebody grab the keys before they hurt someone!!!


8 posted on 02/01/2010 11:01:24 AM PST by mo
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

Never bring a California wind turbine to a Minnesota winter.


9 posted on 02/01/2010 11:01:46 AM PST by Right Wing Assault (The Obama magic is fading.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

10 posted on 02/01/2010 11:01:52 AM PST by Red Badger (Education makes people easy to lead, difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.)
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

You mean it gets cold in Minnesota during the winter?

Wow, what engineering group could have planned on such extreme conditions?


11 posted on 02/01/2010 11:02:23 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Lurker
What kind of a idiot buys a no-yield bond?

Ventura voters.
12 posted on 02/01/2010 11:02:27 AM PST by ZX12R
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

so, now that they have added heaters to the non-functioning wind turbines, they are a net energy drain as well as a capital drain...


13 posted on 02/01/2010 11:02:32 AM PST by RobFromGa (The FairTax is to tax policy as Global Warming is to science.)
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

I live in Minnesota. Although we do get our share of wind here, the only good place to get reliable wind energy is along the ND/SD border areas, as the wind “comes sweeping down the plains” there.

The story is fantastic in it’s lunacy. The price of these windmills is exorbitant, and the need to actually heat the mechanisms to get them to work seems self-defeating.


14 posted on 02/01/2010 11:02:43 AM PST by Gumdrop
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To: COBOL2Java
Said heating elements powered by...?

Solar cells?..............

15 posted on 02/01/2010 11:03:51 AM PST by Red Badger (Education makes people easy to lead, difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.)
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To: Tax-chick

I hadn’t heard that about the school buses, but here’s more info from John Stossel.
* * * * *
“They’ll have to use either electricity or natural gas at each turbine to keep the mechanism lubricated.

That will drastically reduce the net energy gain from each turbine, depending on how much heating the turbine fluid needs to stop congealing in the winter.

Since cold weather here lasts anywhere from 4-6 months, that makes it mighty inefficient as an energy resource.”

Read more: http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/02/01/no-spin-zones/#ixzz0eJR78TUN


16 posted on 02/01/2010 11:04:10 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

Wheel In The Sky
by Journey
(Freeper re-mix)

Winter is here again oh Lord,
Haven’t seen Al Gore in a year or more
I hope he holds on a little longer

He sent a letter on a long summer day
Made of hot air, not of clay
I also used to run down this warming road

Wheel in the sky isn’t turnin’
I don’t know if it will tomorrow
Wheel in the sky isn’t turnin’

I’ve been trying to make it home
Got to make it before it gets too cold
I can’t take this very much longer
I’m stranded in the sleet and rain
Don’t think I’m ever gonna make it home again
The mornin’ sun is freezin’
It’s kissing the day.

Wheel in the sky keeps not turnin’
I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps not turnin’

Wheel in the sky isn’t turning.
I don’t know if it will tomorrow.
Wheel in the sky keeps me yearin’


17 posted on 02/01/2010 11:04:17 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

this is hilarious. A friend of mine in Michigan invested thousands of dollars on two windmills in his backyard before Y2K. It was great when it worked. However, Michigan winters caused the props to freeze up during storms and there is not enough wind to propel them in the summer. He finally abandoned them and sold them for there scrap metal value.


18 posted on 02/01/2010 11:04:45 AM PST by kempster
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To: Gumdrop
The price of these windmills is exorbitant, and the need to actually heat the mechanisms to get them to work seems self-defeating.

.....especially to anyone with commonsense.

19 posted on 02/01/2010 11:05:28 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: Tax-chick
And does Minnesota have those LED stop lights that “do not” melt ice that accumulates on them...thereby causing accidents?

Bwahahahahahaha. Progressives win again, and schleps LOOSE!

20 posted on 02/01/2010 11:05:33 AM PST by gathersnomoss (General George Patton had it right.)
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