10-year life- cycle. The fiber-carbon blades on the twin wind turbines at Lewiston are being replaced after 10 years of pitting by dust and other wind-born abrasive elements. It’s a massive although routine project for crews to keep the off-line time as brief as possible. Images: Steve Lunde
New turbine blades on-site as replacements
LEWISTON, Minn. – A Rosemount company, Vic’s Crane and Heavy Lifting, has the contract to remove the blades from towers at the Lewiston wind farm and to replace them. The 250-foot blades will be chopped up and recycled. The Lewiston wind farm was built by Gundersen hospital in LaCrosse to pump electricity into the regional power grid to offset its own electricity consumption. Although relatively a small wind farm, the Lewiston project generates enough energy to power 1,400 homes. Typical blades weigh four to seven tons each. Transporting blades requires special equipment – in some cases a tractor and two trailers, with the second tailer equipped to be self-steerable. Some rigs have as many as many as 14 axles and 40 tires total.
Hoisting and carting blades. Fiber-carbon blades weigh four to seven tons. Hoisting them takes usually tall aerial cranes. Transporting them requires special vehicles. The largest blades require a tractor and two trailers, with the second trailer independently steerable. The biggest of these custom-designed rigs have 14 axles with 40 tires.