January 14, 2014
Michigan

DTE Energy ready for new turbines to start working

BY NICHOLAS GRENKE, Tribune Staff Writer | Huron Daily Tribune | January 14, 2014 | michigansthumb.com

UPPER THUMB – DTE Energy representatives said that 39 out of the 70 wind turbines currently shut down at the Echo Wind Park are ready to reboot and produce energy in Huron County.

The wind farm was shut down in November because of a broken wind turbine blade in Chandler Township. The company that provides the blades for DTE, General Electric, said the cause of the failure was a manufacturing anomaly.

Mike Serafin of DTE Energy said the company is taking every precaution while it gets ready to repower the park at a recent Huron County Planning Commission meeting. That includes bringing in an outside party to inspect the blades in addition to GE engineers.

“DTE is having an independent consultant look into the blades,” Serafin said.

Planning Commission Chair Clark Brock told Serafin that he appreciated the openness DTE has had with the Planning Commission concerning two blade failures during the last year. In March, a blade also broke in Sigel Township at a different DTE wind park.

A GE statement last month said the cause of the Nov. 8 blade break at the Echo Wind Park was a spar cap-manufacturing irregularity. GE is the country’s largest manufacturer of wind turbine parts.

• Jeff Smith, director of the Huron County Building and Zoning Board, said that more issues have come up recently with state software not lining up correctly. He said he would be in contact with the Huron County Commissioners this week.

Smith added he would work with commissioner David Peruski and the board’s legislative committee in an effort to update the county’s wind zoning ordinances. The last time they were updated was in 2007.

• Two sound quality experts also presented their findings from the review of the Exelon Energy wind parks in southern Huron County, Michigan Wind Project 2 and Michigan Wind Harvest 1.

Peter Guldberg and Ryan Callahan of Tech Environmental showed the planning commission a slide show that detailed how they tested the wind parks to make sure they were in compliance with Huron County sound ordinances.

However, after more than an hour describing the testing process, the commission was still not happy with the report and asked Guldberg and Callahan to bring more information to a February meeting. The main concerns with the report were that graphs were not easily understandable and wind speed was measured in meters per second as opposed to miles per hour.

• Two sound quality experts also presented their findings from the review of the Exelon Energy wind parks in southern Huron County, Michigan Wind Project 2 and Michigan Wind Harvest 1.

Howeve,r after more than an hour describing the testing process, the commission was still not happy with the report and asked Guldberg and Callahan to bring more information to a February meeting. The main concerns with the report were that graphs were not easily understandable and wind speed was measured in meters per second as opposed to miles per hour.