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Judith Gap wind farm to be on line by mid-December

The wind farm south of Judith Gap has a new permanent site manager, and is he ever a happy camper at the moment. The wind hasn’t stopped blowing since the first turbines went into energy production last Wednesday.

The 90 wind turbines near Judith Gap will produce 135 megawatts of power for the Northwest power grid.

by JIM DULLENTY
News-Argus Staff Writer

John Bacon, on-site manager for Chicago-based Invenergy, the owner of the Judith Gap Wind Farm, said that since the first turbines began producing electricity the wind has blown at 15 miles per hour or faster.

“I was here over the Thanksgiving break so I have been here since we began producing and the wind has never stopped,” said Bacon. “A couple of times the wind blew hard enough that each producing turbine maxed out at 1.5 megawatts of electricity.”

Commissioning crews from General Electric Co., which built the turbines, have been at the Wind Farm bringing the turbines on line at the rate of six per day, Bacon said. He said that by the end of Monday, the crews expected to have 25 of the 90 turbines in operation.

The crews will continue to operate each turbine for a period of time as a reliability test, Bacon said. He said the turbine must run without faults for a period of time before GE will certify the turbine.

Bacon said a large transformer that was stuck in Mexico for some time as it was being shipped to the Judith Gap Wind Farm finally arrived at the Judith Gap South Substation near Highway 191. Thus far, four of seven circuits in the transformer have been activated.

The power produced by the turbines is sold to Northwestern Energy Co., which has purchased all the power from the Wind Farm on a 20-year contract. That power already should be reaching customers in Montana and elsewhere in the West, Bacon said.

Power from the substation goes onto a big 230-kilovolt transmission line that runs between Billings and Great Falls, Bacon said.

All 90 turbines should be operating by mid-December, the on-site manager said. Blattner Construction Co. of Billings will remain for a few more days but in a couple of weeks will be gone. They will return in the spring to do some reclamation work, Bacon said.

“Everything is up,” Bacon said. He added that Blattner is primarily engaged in cleanup work at present.

“There’s been talk of expansion, but I’m not sure how that will play out,” Bacon said. He noted Invenergy originally planned to build 100 wind towers at the site but reduced that to 90. At the time, Invenergy officials said they reduced the number because of difficulty getting the materials to build the towers and turbines.

The 90 turbines will produce 135 megawatts of power for the Northwest power grid, but Invenergy has reserved 180 megawatts on the transmission line in case of future expansion, Bacon said.

Bacon laughed when asked why he was so ebullient about the wind, something that has plagued Judith Gap residents for generations. He said so far the wind has been great for his project and that, in all respects, “everything is going well.”

Snow fell to a depth of four to five inches at the Wind Farm but that hasn’t hampered operations and roads remain open, Bacon said. He said now that crews have returned to normal size after the Thanksgiving break, activating the turbines should go even faster.

Full Story: http://www.lewistownnews.com/news3.html

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"If I were the economic development czar for America today or if I were in charge of economic planning for Las Vegas and Nevada today, I would start by making a complete and total commitment to a clean energy future because I think you can create more jobs there than anywhere else." Bill Clinton

Clean-energy potential touted – Bill Clinton urges Nevada to blaze trail http://www.matr.net/article-17139.html

(I’m sure he would have said the same thing about Montana. Russ)

Wind power coming on strong in northwestern states http://www.matr.net/article-16616.html

Governor Schweitzer says Judith Gap wind farm is just the beginning in Montana http://www.matr.net/article-16446.html

Ropin’ the wind: Judith Gap Wind Farm to tap Montana’s invisible resource http://www.matr.net/article-15247.html

usiness booms as wind farm construction begins at Judith Gap, Montana http://www.matr.net/article-14979.html

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