5/9/2009

Turbines turning again

By DUANE SCHRAG

Salina Journal

The wind turbines west of Salina that stood curiously still for the past four months are turning again.

A massive -- 349,000 lb -- custom-made transformer has been installed, allowing Kansas' largest wind farm to operate at full capacity.

"It's wired in, it's going," said Stephen Pike, regional asset manager for Enel North America, which owns and operates the Smoky Hills Wind Farm along Interstate Highway 70 at the Lincoln/Ellsworth County line. "We hope this evening (Friday) we will be fully back online with all our turbines."

Roughly one-third of the turbines on the 250 megawatt wind farm were idled in December when a transformer failed.

"It's not an off-the-shelf item," Pike said. "They are typically built specially for each project."

And construction of these transformers usually takes 12 to 18 months. This one was built in Taiwan.

"We had it built at a time when there was a lot going on in the wind industry. People were working 24 hours a day," Pike said. "It literally left Taiwan the first or second week of March."

Upon arrival in California it was shipped by rail to Salina, and last week carried by a 12-axle trailer to the wind farm.

Standard household electricity is 115 volts AC. The wind turbines used at Smoky Hills Wind Farm generate electricity at 690 volts AC. Each turbine has a transformer that boosts the voltage to 34,500 volts before the power is routed to the main transformer, which pumps it up to 230,000 volts for release onto the grid.

Transmission lines operate at high voltage to minimize power loss in transit.

Hank Sennott, a spokesman for Enel North America, said the company made a special effort to get the farm fully operational as quickly as possible.

"That is a showcase asset for us here in North America," he said. "It was important for us to get it back online. And for the community as well."

n Reporter Duane Schrag can be reached at 822-1422 or by e-mail at dschrag@salina.com.

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