After more than a year of research and planning, John and Dan Grimm at High Heaven Energy Systems in Willimina are now the proud owners of an XZERES ARE442 10 kW wind turbine system. During a recent OSWEA small wind installer training, 15 class participants assisted in the full assembly and erection of the turbine on top of a 130-foot self supporting lattice tower. The turbine can be seen from Highway 18 just east of Spirit Mountain Casino, about 30 minutes from the Oregon coast.
Day 1 was spent going over site logistics, inventory counts, and equipment layout. Ensuring that all materials are present and accounted for went a long way to help the rest of the week go as smoothly as possible. Day 2 and day 3 were spent almost entirely on the tower assembly. Lots of nuts and bolts, but plenty of helping hands around made work go quickly!
Day 4’s tower lift was cancelled at the last minute as the crane could not make it to the work site in time. There was plenty of other work to finish up though as we hung the electronics, pulled electrical wire, and torqued the bolts from top down.
Friday proved to be the perfect weather break we had hoped for. The crane lifted the turbine without a problem, and in no time we were fastening down the last bolts and looking to finish the electrical connections. The sixth and final day we were able to discuss the entire process together. One last system check and we were excited to be walking away from a working system!
Thanks to all those involved in the training and installation! Oregon has one more small wind turbine working now and we hope to see more soon.
