November 6, 2015
New Jersey

Repairs on Bayonne’s turbine generator delayed until late next month, officials say

Repairs on Bayonne's windmill generator delayed until late December, officials say | By Jonathan Lin | The Jersey Journal | November 06, 2015 | www.nj.com

BAYONNE – Repairs on the wind turbine used to power the city’s Oak Street and Fifth Street pumping stations have been delayed until late December, according to the Bayonne Municipal Utilities Authority.

BMUA Executive Director Tim Boyle said the part needed to repair the turbine “was further back-ordered” and has been rescheduled to arrive in Bayonne in late December. The turbine was previously set to be repaired as early as this month.
Boyle told The Jersey Journal the delay is “very disappointing news.”

The 260-foot wind turbine, off East Fifth Street, went into operation in June 2012, with city officials touting energy savings of up to $300,000 a year. But it stopped working in June.

Every month that the turbine goes unrepaired costs the city roughly $25,000 in energy savings, Boyle has said. Assuming the turbine is fixed by the end of January, the money lost in energy savings would total about $175,000.

The part needed to repair the turbine – which is estimated to take one to four days to install upon arrival – will cost $298,000, down from the original repair cost estimate of $350,000, Boyle said.

United Water monitors and maintains the windmill under a 40-year deal with the BMUA.

Boyle has said MUA workers detected vibrations coming from the turbine in June and the manufacturer shut off the generator remotely and then sent a representative to inspect it.

Boyle has said he was told these types of generators are supposed to last 20 years. The city got three years out of its generator.

For the past two years, the turbine has produced about 3.3 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, enough to power 600 single-family homes for a year.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/11/06/repairs-on-bayonnes-turbine-generator-delayed-until-late-next-month-officials-say/