Nov 26 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Kathy Plum The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

Within sight of the stacks of the coalfired Mount Storm Power Plant in Grant County, on land already mined for coal, a new energy source is rising.

It is the largest wind farm now under construction in West Virginia, a $300 million project jointly owned by Shell WindEnergy and Dominion Resources under the project name NedPower. The first phase will include 82 turbines, the second phase about 40.

Something like it may arise in Preston County. Atlantic Renewable Energy Corp. proposed a 60 megawatt wind turbine generating facility in Preston County near Afton, including 37 windmills, according to a report submitted to PJM Interconnection, the regional power grid operator.

The Mount Storm project overcame opposition voiced in court and to the W.Va. Public Service Commission before construction started a year ago.

"This is the most ideal wind environment on the Allegheny Front," said Robert C. Orndorff Jr., director of state and local government affairs for Dominion. "It's not necessarily good to have a strong wind, it's important to have consistent wind."

The winds that will power the windmills and create electricity also restrict their construction. Anytime the winds are blowing 25 mph or above, the cranes can't work, as was the case Nov. 2.

The 78-meter towers each have three blades on a turbine. Nineteen were fully erected up to and including the rotor by early November, and more than 30 were partially built.

"It's like building an erection set, because you have a limited amount of cranes, so what you do is get everything up to one level and then bring" the cranes in, Orndorff said.

On Nov. 2, while Morgantown saw temperatures in the 40s, it was about 30 degrees at Mount Storm.

"That's why they call this place Mount Storm, because this is where the winds come together," Orndorff said, and "the more wind, the more constant the capacity you can produce."

Workers have also had to contend with rattlesnakes and are warned to watch for bears. Some of the roughly 200 people working on site are from this area, including Project Manager Dave Myers, who lives in Parsons. Mortenson is the general contractor and relies on union labor and local subcontractors, such as Kitzmiller, of Mount Storm, which did the excavation work.

Myers, a native of St. George in Tucker County, also worked on the Backbone Mountain wind project. That project, one of the first in the state, has 44 turbines.

Four of those windmills owned by Backbone Mountain Wind Power sit in the southeastern most corner of Preston County, and companies are conducting wind studies in Afton, off Cranesville Road.

The impact study on the Afton project was given to PJM Interconnection in July 2006. PJM's purpose is to assure a reliable supply of electricity for 13 states and the District of Columbia -- including West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia -- by operating a wholesale electricity market. As such, it has authority over projects such as wind farms and new power transmission lines.

Sixteen miles of roadway snake across the eight miles of mountaintop where the Mount Storm windmills are being built. All the land is leased, and once construction is completed, landowners will be able to use the land again to graze cattle or for whatever use they please.

A part of the wind farm is on an old strip mine reclaimed by the builders. The builders sought advice from WVU on where to place limestone to rid the site of acid mine drainage. High walls, sheer walls of dirt and rock left behind by the miners also were removed.

The windmills are made in Philadelphia by Gamesa and brought in on specially made trucks. The towers arrive in four sections, with the blades, nacelles and other sections separate. The trucks carrying the 136-foot blades -- the distance from the end zone to the 45-yard line on a football field -- can't negotiate construction on Interstate 68 bridges, forcing the trucks onto state highways through Romney and Scherr.

A hotline is available to update travelers when the trucks will be on the road, and flashing signs signal the turn-offs to the wind farm.

Each turbine has up to 2 megawatts of capacity, Myers said, but production fluctuates with wind conditions. The first phase of the mills should go into service early in 2008, in groups of five or six at a time.

About 20 people will remain on site to maintain and operate the wind farm. Twice a year, in spring and fall, each windmill will be serviced. A crew of workers will look for loose connections and test the torque value on bolts. If a set percentage of bolts test below what they should, all the bolts are checked on the mill.

Hydraulic filters are also changed and oil samples may be taken. The pitch of the turbines changes, using a hydraulic system. The windmills are connected via buried fiber optic cables to computers that can remotely manage the turbines.

"Wind's been around for quite some time, but they build them bigger and bigger each year, and a lot of these wind turbines are still prototypes," Myers said.

"There are a lot of different forces up there that a lot of people don't understand," he said, pointing to the sky.

The windmills take a beating from Mother Nature.

"If you're in a controlled environment, you're not up there shaking around all the time," Myers said. Orndorff compared it to running a car at a steady 65 mph on a smooth, dry road, versus running a car on bumpy roads in a variety of temperature and weather extremes.

Electricity generated by the wind goes to a new substation, where it is jumped up to 500 kv, put on the electrical grid system and travels wherever it is needed.

"The wind turbine industry is being born, so to speak," Orndorff said.