Wray windmill to be for DNC

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 30, 2008 at 2:53 p.m.
Updated July 31, 2008 at 2:13 a.m.

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Photo by GEORGE KOCHANIEC JR. / The Rocky

The Wray wind turbine, a mile south of downtown Wray, is one of four projects that will benefit from carbon offsets purchased by DNC delegates. The turbine generates 20 percent of Wray's electric power.

Photo by GEORGE KOCHANIEC JR.

Wray's wind turbine

The eastern Colorado wind turbine that is a symbol of Democrats' commitment to clean energy should be fixed and running by the middle of next week, officials say.

Work started Wednesday on removing the malfunctioning power converter and installing a more reliable one, Wray School District Superintendent Ron Howard said.

Democrats would love for the 330-foot-high wind turbine to be humming along by Aug. 25 - the first day of their national convention in Denver.

The Democratic National Convention's Green Delegate Challenge is asking delegates from all 50 states to purchase "green credits" from NativeEnergy, an energy broker headquartered in Vermont, to offset the energy that will be used at the convention.

Among the four green energy projects that those credits would be invested in is the wind turbine in Wray.

Republicans have had fun with the malfunctioning wind turbine, because Democrats are more closely associated with wind and solar energy, the GOP with oil and gas.

State Sen. Greg Brophy, a Republican from Wray, said that while most people in his district are excited about the wind turbine, "the 'green' DNC convention is an absolute sham."

The 900-kilowatt windmill began operating in February, with the goal of generating one-fifth of the power for the town of Wray and generating about $40,000 to $100,000 annually for the school district.

"Our power converter is a new model and it had some bugs in it," Howard said.

The converter, from Americas Wind Energy of Toronto, tends to surge too much electricity, causing the blades to yaw, a computer to overload and a water pump to overheat, he said.

So, Americas Wind Energy is bringing in a different converter - not as new a model, but more tried and true, he said.

"It's a big process," Howard said. "Because the turbine is already built, they'll have to tear down some of the parts" to get the new converter in.

"Over the next three days, they're supposed to tear the old converter out. Then it will be four or five days to install the new one."

An inspection is scheduled for Aug. 7.

"By the middle of the week of Aug. 11, it should be up and running," Howard said.

• July 31, 2008

  9:32 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  galty writes:

  "The 900-kilowatt windmill began operating in February, with the goal of generating one-fifth of the power for the town of Wray and generating about $40,000 to $100,000 annually for the school district."

  Apparently "began operating" does not include actually generating electricity, and "with the goal of" is not the same as actually reaching. Which IS the party of Great Unrealized Goals? It depends on what the definition of IS, IS...

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