At 1 p.m. Sunday, June 13, blades and lifting rig for the first commercial WindStor vertical-axis wind turbine departed MTI’s shop in Brighton for the installation at Pioneer Bluff Apartments in Ishpeming.
Completion of the installation began Monday.
All that remains to complete the installation is to attach the three blades to the tower. Blades were each transported in three sections that will be assembled onsite before being lifted into place with a unique “patent pending” lifting rig designed specifically for lifting vertical-axis wind turbine blades.
The lifting rig had to be transported in pieces much like a giant erector set. A crane will assemble the lifting rig and will first perform a test lift prior to installing the blades. The lifting rig has four clamps that will carry the blade as a passenger into place atop the tower.
Once completed, an extensive testing process will begin immediately and last for a few months as part of the certification process before WindStor can be mass produced.
“If everything goes as planned and the weather cooperates, the installation could be completed by Saturday”, said Bryan Zaplitny, president of MTI Energy Management and Lighting Specialists Inc. “This installation will signal the start of a new dimension for distributed generation from renewable resources at the customer’s facility.”
The wind turbine will be owned by Clean Green Energy, a successor to a former publicly held corporation, with the power sold on a 20-year contract to the Ishpeming Housing Authority, owners of the senior housing complex. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.
Click here to be introduced to someone who can further assist you with wind turbines
Source: WWJ Newsradio 950
