Press Releases
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August 14, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jennifer Walz, Communications Director, (218) 299-5407
Christopher
Reed, Energy Services and Marketing Director, (218) 299-5199
CONSTRUCTION OF MOORHEAD'S SECOND WIND TURBINE UNDERWAY
As final construction gets underway this week, it will take six
semi-trailer trucks and one massive 300-ton crane to deliver and build
Moorhead Public Service's second wind turbine generator in northeast
Moorhead. The utility's second 750-kilowatt wind turbine will be located
approximately 1,800 feet east of Zephyr, the utility's first wind turbine.
Last month, a 44-square concrete foundation, containing 24 tons of rebar was
poured to support the newer wind turbine. Weighing in at 6 tons, the first
section of the wind turbine is already embedded in the concrete. The tower,
which weighs 55 tons, will be built in sections, and the three turbines
blades, weighing in at approximately four tons each, will also be assembled
before the turbine is erected. According to Christopher Reed, energy
services and marketing director, a crew of ten people should finish
assembling the turbine by the end of this week.
As over 400 new Capture The Wind® members signed up to receive
clean, wind energy last fall, Moorhead Public Service gained national
recognition through the National Renewable Energy Laboratories for having
the highest customer participation rates in the nation. Customers
subscribing to the wind program pay just half-penny more per kilowatt-hour
to replace coal-generated energy with renewable wind energy. "An
average customer participating in the program, using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of
electricity each month will prevent 8,800 pounds of greenhouse gases from
being emitted into the environment," explains Reed.
Moorhead Public Service's first wind turbine began generating electricity on
May 14, 1999. To date, MPS and its Capture The Wind® members
have effectively prevented the emission of over 6,850,000 pounds of
greenhouse gases. MPS expects the two turbines to harvest about 3,600,000
kilowatt-hours of wind energy each year.
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