Huge components for two of Nova Scotia Power’s biggest wind energy projects could be spotted on Nova Scotia highways Wednesday.
The mobile display of green power will continue for about three weeks.
Machine heads and hubs for about 20 wind turbines will be hauled to the Digby wind farm from Halifax, while components for 22 turbines for the Nuttby Mountain wind farm 20 kilometres north of Truro will be transported from Sheet Harbour.
"We’re expecting one entire turbine to arrive each day," Sean Brennan, project manager for the Digby wind farm, said Wednesday.
A similar delivery pace will be maintained at the Nuttby Mountain site, said project manager Debra McLellan.
"The components were unloaded at Sheet Harbour just last week and we’re ready," she said.
A massive machine head and hub, each on its own special trailer, left Halifax early Wednesday for Digby. The machine heads, which generate the electricity, weigh about 50 metric tonnes each, while the hubs weigh about a third of that but are still big enough to require separate transport.
"These components will be loaded during the day and will depart just after midnight when traffic is at a minimum," said Katie Burgess, a spokeswoman for Nova Scotia Power.
Tractor-trailers designed to handle the big loads will leave the Port of Halifax in darkness over the next three weeks and make their way to Digby the long way on Highway 103.
"The machine heads are too heavy and tall for some parts of the shorter Highway 101 route through the Annapolis Valley," Brennan said.
Turbine blades and tower sections are being transported to Digby from Montreal, again using Highway 103 because of the length of the tower sections. Each of the three tower sections for each turbine is 25 to 30 metres long.
Ironically, the installation of the turbines will depend on the wind.
"These sites were selected because they are so windy, and strong winds will slow the erection process," McLellan said.
All turbines at both sites should be up by this fall and generating electricity for the power grid by December.
Nova Scotia Power has already predicted that rate increases will be needed for 2011 to cover the cost of the wind-power equipment and of buying cleaner coal for power-generating stations to meet provincial emissions standards.
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