Mother Nature wreaked havoc this winter at one of the province’s largest wind farms.
Extreme winds, along with cold temperatures and a buildup of ice, crashed three test towers and halted power production at RMSenergy’s wind farm in Pictou County, said company president Reuben Burge in an interview in Halifax on Wednesday.
The heavy ice conditions stopped the blades from turning, resulting in a 20 per cent loss of production in January and February, he said.
"We have had a loss of production. It’s more than an average year for icing," said Burge. "It’s still a very good lesson to learn, so I am actually looking into blade heating technology."
The ice buildup on the 34 wind turbines meant the privately owned company had to shut down production some days, he said.
The growing pains came just a month after the 51-megawatt wind farm, located 25 kilometres west of New Glasgow, started producing electricity in December. When fully operating, the wind farm will provide enough energy to power 17,500 homes.
Burge said the problem was likely exacerbated by the high altitude of the turbines and the remote location.
To get the blades whirling, Burge and other employees rushed on March 6 to install a de-icing software program from the manufacturer in each turbine.
"It changes the blade angle and allows the turbine to still turn with the ice on. That seemed to be successful, although we didn’t have much testing time. We only had a few days of icing since then."
He said every wind developer allows for a percentage loss of overall yearly production.
"So far, we are still in check for the end-of-the-year goals. But this impact is all coming at once, so this means we just have to perform better for the rest of the year."
The 38-year-old entrepreneur isn’t deterred by the recent events. Burge wants to expand the $100-million wind farm and add seven to 10 more turbines on the site.
"We’re really pushing for that. We would like the support on that from Nova Scotia Power and the Department of Energy and the Utility and Review Board. We think the targets are at risk of not being met again for 2010 and 2011, and we’d like to be able to help out."
Burge is referring to environmental targets that Nova Scotia Power must meet of having 25 per cent of electricity generated from renewable energy sources by 2015.
RMSenergy was the only project of six that Nova Scotia Power signed contracts with two years ago that successfully supplied renewable energy to the utility by late 2009. The other wind developers couldn’t get the projects off the ground because of tight credit markets.
"Everybody was just as sure last year that their projects were going to come on line in February and March of 2009, and they didn’t succeed. They’re at huge risk for not meeting their target," said Burge.
He has yet to formally apply to install the turbines and said he hopes he doesn’t have to wait until Nova Scotia Power decides to issue a request for proposals.
"I could get everything pulled together for the end of this year but it would take somebody to put a big green light on it."
1 comment:
www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2259938/renewables-industry-considers.
This relates directly to my comment in the previous posting. Is there nothing true that the antis can cite?
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