Hi Folks,
A great day on Saturday even though the planned attendance of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was cancelled as she had to focus her attention on the devatation in Haiti, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully and the new US ambassador David Huebner stepped up to do the honours and flick Meridian’s giant light-switch to declare the Ross Island Wind Farm officially open.
There were some notable New Zealanders among the guests, including Sitr Edmund Hillary's widow Lady June Hillary and son Peter Hillary, and James, son of the late Sir Peter Blake – complete with red socks.
The highlight of the event was a televised live cross to the ice which enabled the Auckland audience to see the turbines spinning on a rare fine Antarctica day.
The three turbines together have a capacity of just under a megawatt, and enable a reduction of nearly half a million litres in diesel fuel which would otherwise have to be used to provide electricity to Scott Base and the nearby US base at McMurdo.
The ceremony marked the high point of a highly successful project, which has reinforced Meridian’s reputation as a company with a special expertise in constructing renewable energy projects in challenging – and sensitive – environments.
Scott
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
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
Electricity from the world's southern most industrial turbine!
Folks
On Wednesday night at 8pm, a fantastic new project milestone was achieved when we supplied renewable energy to the Ross Island Network from Wind Turbine 1, the southern-most industrial wind turbine in the world. It was too early to smile yet as the commissioning of this turbine proved to be a battle of man versus machine. However, by 10pm last night and after a great deal of persistence, the last of the minor equipment calibrations and bugs had been fixed and the turbine was left running overnight. The Enercon Commissioning Engineer, Andree Laurien was elated this morning to wake up and see the turbine continuing to generate from the windows of Scott Base.
This turbine makes a very visual statement that renewable energy has arrived on Ross Island. It’s operation, which can be viewed from both Scott Base and McMurdo Station is raising intense interest from the residents in both communities. Over the next five days, we will exploiting the good wind conditions and operating this turbine continuously to prove its reliability as part of the customer handover process.
In parallel with the commissioning of the Wind Turbine 1, the construction of Wind Turbines 2 & 3 is proceeding at a good rate with optimised processes now in place gained from experience on Wind Turbine 1. Despite the fact that the construction crew has reduced in number this week, a combination of good weather and long working days has resulted in the Wind Turbine 2 Hub and Blades lifted into position on Tuesday 1 December 2009. The team are currently pulling in and terminating the tower cables with the target to connect this turbine onto the Ross Island Network next Tuesday.
Progress on Wind Turbine 3 is also proceeding well with tower sections, nacelle and generator lifted into place this week. Currently, the hub and blades are being prepared for lifting and the team are now seeking the critical and rare weather window when winds are less than 8 knots to perform this delicate operation. Weather permitting, this turbine will be connected to the network towards the end of next week.
Finally, some of you watching the webcam this week may have noticed “Susi, I love you” painted on a large piece of cardboard fixed to the bottom tower section of Wind Turbine 3. This innovation in communications comes from our Enercon Erection Engineer, Sebastian Kunze and was aimed at his partner watching on the opposite side of the world in Germany. Some might say he is a hopeless romantic or maybe just too busy to send a postcard from the Ice the conventional way!
Have a good weekend.
Regards
Scott
On Wednesday night at 8pm, a fantastic new project milestone was achieved when we supplied renewable energy to the Ross Island Network from Wind Turbine 1, the southern-most industrial wind turbine in the world. It was too early to smile yet as the commissioning of this turbine proved to be a battle of man versus machine. However, by 10pm last night and after a great deal of persistence, the last of the minor equipment calibrations and bugs had been fixed and the turbine was left running overnight. The Enercon Commissioning Engineer, Andree Laurien was elated this morning to wake up and see the turbine continuing to generate from the windows of Scott Base.
This turbine makes a very visual statement that renewable energy has arrived on Ross Island. It’s operation, which can be viewed from both Scott Base and McMurdo Station is raising intense interest from the residents in both communities. Over the next five days, we will exploiting the good wind conditions and operating this turbine continuously to prove its reliability as part of the customer handover process.
In parallel with the commissioning of the Wind Turbine 1, the construction of Wind Turbines 2 & 3 is proceeding at a good rate with optimised processes now in place gained from experience on Wind Turbine 1. Despite the fact that the construction crew has reduced in number this week, a combination of good weather and long working days has resulted in the Wind Turbine 2 Hub and Blades lifted into position on Tuesday 1 December 2009. The team are currently pulling in and terminating the tower cables with the target to connect this turbine onto the Ross Island Network next Tuesday.
Progress on Wind Turbine 3 is also proceeding well with tower sections, nacelle and generator lifted into place this week. Currently, the hub and blades are being prepared for lifting and the team are now seeking the critical and rare weather window when winds are less than 8 knots to perform this delicate operation. Weather permitting, this turbine will be connected to the network towards the end of next week.
Finally, some of you watching the webcam this week may have noticed “Susi, I love you” painted on a large piece of cardboard fixed to the bottom tower section of Wind Turbine 3. This innovation in communications comes from our Enercon Erection Engineer, Sebastian Kunze and was aimed at his partner watching on the opposite side of the world in Germany. Some might say he is a hopeless romantic or maybe just too busy to send a postcard from the Ice the conventional way!
Have a good weekend.
Regards
Scott
A break in the wind 25/26 November
Folks
The mark of a good wind farm is a steady consistent wind and that is exactly what we’ve had over the last few days. The WEC1 Turbine hub and blades had been ready for lifting since mid-day yesterday but wind conditions were well above the desired 8-9 knots. Frustration turned into delight when a window of calm air presented itself last night around 7:30pm. Johno Leitch mustered the team and by 8:30pm, the hub and blades had been successfully installed on the WEC1 turbine and the team back at Scott Base by 10pm.
The attached progress pics mark a key milestone for the team and we hope to have this turbine generating in the next 2-3 days. Erection of WEC2 turbine is scheduled to commence tomorrow.
In parallel with the success of the WEC1 turbine milestone, the Powercorp team successfully completed the testing and commissioning of the PowerStore flywheel system injecting 500kW of energy into the Ross Island network. This demonstrated the ability to provide voltage and frequency support for the McMurdo Station generators and to maintain system stability during transient conditions.
Regards
Scott
The mark of a good wind farm is a steady consistent wind and that is exactly what we’ve had over the last few days. The WEC1 Turbine hub and blades had been ready for lifting since mid-day yesterday but wind conditions were well above the desired 8-9 knots. Frustration turned into delight when a window of calm air presented itself last night around 7:30pm. Johno Leitch mustered the team and by 8:30pm, the hub and blades had been successfully installed on the WEC1 turbine and the team back at Scott Base by 10pm.
The attached progress pics mark a key milestone for the team and we hope to have this turbine generating in the next 2-3 days. Erection of WEC2 turbine is scheduled to commence tomorrow.
In parallel with the success of the WEC1 turbine milestone, the Powercorp team successfully completed the testing and commissioning of the PowerStore flywheel system injecting 500kW of energy into the Ross Island network. This demonstrated the ability to provide voltage and frequency support for the McMurdo Station generators and to maintain system stability during transient conditions.
Regards
Scott
Progress Monday the 23rd of November - fog is no barrier!
Hi Folks,
Thought you might be interested to see some pics from the progress today. The team got the WEC1 Turbine Nacelle lifted up into position in the fog. Tomorrow morning, we will lift the generator into position and then hopefully get the blades up if the weather permits. Despite the fog, it has been a reasonably mild day with very little wind and about -5degC.
Our other success today was completing the commissioning of the Scott Base Frequency Converter and Scott Base Generator Controller Interfaces.
We will be performing commissioning tests on the PowerStore Flywheel System at McMurdo Station tomorrow night and Wednesday night. Following on from this, we expect to have the first wind turbine generating by Thursday/Friday.
Regards
Scott
Thought you might be interested to see some pics from the progress today. The team got the WEC1 Turbine Nacelle lifted up into position in the fog. Tomorrow morning, we will lift the generator into position and then hopefully get the blades up if the weather permits. Despite the fog, it has been a reasonably mild day with very little wind and about -5degC.
Our other success today was completing the commissioning of the Scott Base Frequency Converter and Scott Base Generator Controller Interfaces.
We will be performing commissioning tests on the PowerStore Flywheel System at McMurdo Station tomorrow night and Wednesday night. Following on from this, we expect to have the first wind turbine generating by Thursday/Friday.
Regards
Scott
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