Article Tags: Windfarms, World Temperatures
Photo: Jim Gehrz, Star Tribune
A crew from enXco Energy Services from California inspected a wind turbine on Wednesday in Chaska. The blades were turning when the crew arrived, but there are several similar turbines in the metro area and outstate that have been stalled recently by the Minnesota winter.
Anoka, Chaska and other city residents ask why their newly installed windmills don’t spin. Operator says they will be running within two months.
Like a lot of California transplants, 11 newcomers to Minnesota are having a hard time adjusting to our winters.
They are wind turbines, erected last fall by 11 metro and outstate cities. The green-energy machines were expected to be spinning before Christmas, but so far their blades have been largely motionless, apparently paralyzed by frigid weather.
The turbines sit idly in Anoka, North St. Paul, Chaska, Shakopee, Buffalo and six other cities, all members of the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (MMPA). The refurbished, 115-foot towers had operated on a California wind farm, where they didn’t have to worry about cold hydraulic fluid turning to gel and oil lubricants getting too sluggish.
Source: startribune.com