December 9, 2011

How to Assemble a Wind Turbine- Part I

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If you have been following our facebook page, or caught some local news, you may know that the assembly of our wind turbine began this week.  A large crane, some forklifts and careful execution helped ‘un-stack’  the turbine tower components and lay out the blades, tower and nacelle.

I am calling this post “Part I” because as you will see below, right now only the base section of the tower is standing.  The crane will return this weekend to complete the tower segments and the blades too, should weather and time allow.  Of course, more photos will be posted here once that occurs.

Unstacking the three tower segments

Getting the base segment of the tower upright

... and lowering it into place

Moving a blade- each one is 49 feet long

And the base in place. Almost looks like part of a space ship.

 

August 4, 2011

Wind Turbine Update!

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Here’s a note from Rick regarding our long-in-progress efforts at putting up a wind turbine:

Our Wind Turbine arrives Friday August 5th!

Our wind turbine will be arriving this Friday after its long journey from Chennai, India.  It left there almost two months ago and has visited many different parts of the middle east, the Mediterranean and several ports in Western Europe.  We expect the first of three trucks carrying the tower, nacelle and the blades to arrive by 8:00 tomorrow morning.  We (somehow) expect to have everything unloaded by 10:30!

If you want to view this as it happens, you can go to http://hodgesbadge.viewnetcam.com for a live feed of our parking lot and the wind turbine.  Unless you have already accessed a Panasonic web cam you will have to download a small plug in before viewing starts.

Need to know more information?  Check out past posts on the turbine here: http://blog.hodgesbadge.com/tag/wind-turbine/

We’ll keep you updated as construction progresses.  So check back here or on facebook for an up-to-date status.

 

 

December 13, 2010

Hodges Badge gets a Mention in Congress

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Last week, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D- R.I.) made a speech to Congress requesting an extension of a Treasury grant program that has provided funding to renewable energy projects.  The Section 1603 grants, originally created as part of the Recovery Act and set to expire in 2011, helped Hodges Badge acquire funding for our wind turbine project (currently under construction).

In his speech, Senator Whitehouse, who toured our facility last May, mentioned Hodges Badge and our wind turbine project several times.

“If your kids have ever won a ribbon at a track meet or a horse show or some other competition, it was probably made at Hodges Badge” he said.  Whitehouse went on to explain that Hodges Badge “is on track to become the first manufacturer in Rhode Island powered entirely by clean energy…” and that our energy project wouldn’t have been possible without assistance from State and Federal Government grants.

For those of you interested in reading the full speech, the Library of Congress has it online here.

 

April 9, 2010

Update on our wind turbine!

Posted by Rick Hodges under Hodges Badge Company | Tags: , , , , , , |
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I know we’ve talked about a wind turbine here on the blog before, but I wanted to let you know about another piece of good news that will help us make our dream of being entirely wind powered a reality.  Today Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri and the Office of Energy Resources announced that Hodges Badge Company has been awarded $156,250 in funding through the Department of Energy’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) State Energy Program.

The Governor himself said proposals “exceeded expectations,” as Rhode Islanders “thought creatively” in pursuing green energy projects.

We were one of 45 businesses, municipalities, organizations, and citizens awarded money, which was granted based on job hours generated by the project, total energy production, and cost effectiveness.

The 225 kilowatt turbine will be put up behind our Portsmouth factory and should cover 100 percent of our Rhode Island facility’s power needs, making Hodges the first manufacturer in Rhode Island to be entirely run by renewable energy.

Update: we are featured in a story in today’s (4/12) Providence Journal- click here.

 

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