Folks




As Christmas draws closer, the effort on the Ross Island Wind Farm construction over the last 2-3 weeks has been intense. However, I'm pleased to report that as of 19 December 2009 when the last of the project team departed site (apart from Site Manager, Johno Leitch), we now have all three wind turbines operating reliably and supplying renewable power to both McMurdo Station and Scott Base. In accordance with the commissioning plan, the wind farm output has been limited to 560kW as part of the planned monitoring period until mid-January 2010.



It has been a very challenging stage in the wind farm construction and we are very satisfied with the progress to date. As well as acknowledging the hard work of the team including the many contractors, we could not achieved the great result without the huge support we have had from the Scott Base staff and my thanks go out to them.



While this stage of construction is now over, we are keen to complete the final stage in the later half of January 2010 which will see the whole system 'tuned' to get optimum efficiency and reliability out of the wind farm system before the onset of winter.



Finally, I'd like to take the chance to wish you all safe and Merry Christmas holiday and we look forward to providing you with some more updates in the New Year.



Regards

Scott