Tag Archives: wind energy

Assembling a Wind Turbine- Part II

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This past Wednesday, the weather, availability of the giant cranes, contractors and other factors finally aligned and enabled us to erect the remaining portion of our wind turbine.  Here are a few photos to show you what “went down” (or up, rather).

First the third and final section of the tower had to be raised up and lowered into place. The tower is 98 feet tall.

Then the nacelle, which houses the gear box and generator (and is bigger than a truck) was bolted on top of the tower.

Here's a better shot of the full tower. Cables were used to help align the nacelle.

Next, the three 49-foot blades were attached to the hub and raised up.

Then with more careful alignment, the hub was attached to the nacelle.

With the structure in place, we are now waiting for the electric company to test and commission the turbine.  Of course, we’ll let you know once it’s fully operational.

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.

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: https://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.

 

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.

Wind Turbine Construction Starts

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Welcome to our construction site!

Here's the alignment ring which is the same diameter as the turbine's column

The rebar in concrete

As these pictures show, construction on our wind turbine generator (WTG) has finally begun!  The excavating was done last week, and this week S&S Forms started laying out the reinforcing bars.  By the time they are done, there will be two dense layers of rebar – top and bottom of a five foot thick cement pad.  In total, they are going to pour 188 yards of cement.

The actual turbine is going to ship from India on December 11 or the 18th, and from there it is 32 days on the water before it gets to Newark.  I am expecting to have more photos towards the end of January of them putting everything together and putting it up.

As for the foundation, we will have photos of that being poured some time next week.

If you are interested in seeing the progress, go to http://hodgesbadge.viewnetcam.com for a live picture.

Rick