New Puget Sound Energy wind farm gets first turbine

Because wind energy is such a trendy topic with so many arguments for and against, it's easy to put the turbines that actually generate electricity to the back of your mind. We don't stop to think about how massive these things actually are.

This week, I came across some gorgeous images to illustrate just how gigantic these things can be - and what a huge operation it is to install them.

The project is Puget Sound Energy's third wind power plant, called Lower Snake River Wind Project, near Pomeroy in Garfield County. It recently erected its first wind power turbine. The project should be operating in spring of 2012 with 149 wind turbines, enough to create 343 megawatts or enough energy to power 100,0000 homes. Here is the first turbine:

The first turbine to be installed. Image courtesy PSE.

To install this sucker, huge cranes with booms extending 390 feet in the air set the turbines' lower sections, nacelles and three-blade rotors in place. Many of the nacelles, which contain the turbines' gear boxes and power generators, are being made at a Siemens plant in Kansas. A Siemens factory is Iowa is producing all the turbine blades.

Lifting part of the turbine.

Each rotor is 331 feet in diameter, more than a football field's length. The turbine towers are bolted to concrete foundations taht are up to 8.5 feet thick and weigh more than 600 tons, equal to the weight of more than 100 bull elephants, according to a PSE press release. The turbines weigh more than 240 tons.

A giant crane lifts the turbine's core.

The project began in May of 2010. RES America is PSE's lead contractor. To see more photos, click here. It also includes a 15,000-square-foot operations and maintenance building that will have office, warehouse and workshop space. Opp & Seibold from Walla Walla is PSE's general contractor. About 25 permanent employees will occupy the building when it opens this fall.

Check out those blades!

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