The Corner of the State... Where the turbines flourish
Myself and five of my wind farm buddies... aka colleagues, came from Hobart and Melbs to checkout the magnificance of Studland Bay, Woolnorth (near Smithton, aka Mifton). We had tower climbing training on the Wednesday in Legana, Launceston, before heading to the very top left corner of Tasmania: Smithton.
It was a pearler of a day - one of the few days in that region without wind. The wind farm is quite large (140MW) - built in 3 sections. We went to the third section called Studland Bay, and it consists of 25 Vestas 3MW V90 turbines. They have a hub height of 80m and blade diameter of 90m (hence V90). So we climbed up to the top (despite the fact that they have lifts, we had to climb because it was our first time). It's logical to climb up to the top, as, despite there being rest platforms every ten or twenty metres, there is nothing to see at these places.
So, you climb to the top of the tower (which is about 4m diameter at the base, perhaps a little wider, and tapers in), then up another ladder with dirty rungs up into the nacelle. The nacelle has plenty of space for 3 people to look around. But I wouldn't want to live in there. (Thought I'd just mention that the turbine is shutdown when we climb and the blades are mechanically braked, so they cannot turn at all.) So I checked out the gear box, the generator, the yaw motor, the pitch hydraulics, the control panels, then we climbed up outside. You get out onto the roof, eighty-odd metres above the ground, and there is a slight non-slip surface on some parts of it, but there is a slope off to the edge - and there sure as hell isn't any railing or fence on the roof, though you do wear a harness which is attached to a safety point. If you slip, it'll save your life, but it won't stop you from brown pants syndrome... anyway, I sat out there for a fair while, surveying the scene, both from the point of view of a renewable energy engineer, but also just cos it's pretty speccy. You're right on the coast. You've got a view onto the islands to the north, to the other wind farm across the bay, at Beauty Point (1.75 MW V66s) and the amazing cliffs next to which they're built. And you can look out to sea, and just see sea. That's out to the west. I think, next time, I need to bring a punnet of cherries with me, because it'd be a wonderful place to just sit and eat cherries, and spit pips over the side. That and a cricket bat. I'd love to try playing turbine cricket! It'd be a one ball a side match, I think, with easily accessible boundaries, but to have the photos, and to say you'd done it, would be awesome.
Anyway, there are some speccy photos which I will endeavour to get off the cameraman. I don't have them quite yet.
It was a pearler of a day - one of the few days in that region without wind. The wind farm is quite large (140MW) - built in 3 sections. We went to the third section called Studland Bay, and it consists of 25 Vestas 3MW V90 turbines. They have a hub height of 80m and blade diameter of 90m (hence V90). So we climbed up to the top (despite the fact that they have lifts, we had to climb because it was our first time). It's logical to climb up to the top, as, despite there being rest platforms every ten or twenty metres, there is nothing to see at these places.
So, you climb to the top of the tower (which is about 4m diameter at the base, perhaps a little wider, and tapers in), then up another ladder with dirty rungs up into the nacelle. The nacelle has plenty of space for 3 people to look around. But I wouldn't want to live in there. (Thought I'd just mention that the turbine is shutdown when we climb and the blades are mechanically braked, so they cannot turn at all.) So I checked out the gear box, the generator, the yaw motor, the pitch hydraulics, the control panels, then we climbed up outside. You get out onto the roof, eighty-odd metres above the ground, and there is a slight non-slip surface on some parts of it, but there is a slope off to the edge - and there sure as hell isn't any railing or fence on the roof, though you do wear a harness which is attached to a safety point. If you slip, it'll save your life, but it won't stop you from brown pants syndrome... anyway, I sat out there for a fair while, surveying the scene, both from the point of view of a renewable energy engineer, but also just cos it's pretty speccy. You're right on the coast. You've got a view onto the islands to the north, to the other wind farm across the bay, at Beauty Point (1.75 MW V66s) and the amazing cliffs next to which they're built. And you can look out to sea, and just see sea. That's out to the west. I think, next time, I need to bring a punnet of cherries with me, because it'd be a wonderful place to just sit and eat cherries, and spit pips over the side. That and a cricket bat. I'd love to try playing turbine cricket! It'd be a one ball a side match, I think, with easily accessible boundaries, but to have the photos, and to say you'd done it, would be awesome.
Anyway, there are some speccy photos which I will endeavour to get off the cameraman. I don't have them quite yet.
posted by BSJ-rom at 10:19 pm
1 Comments:
Chop chop get those pics
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