Nov 17 - Dominion Post

Engineers are battling extreme cold and high winds to build the world's most southern wind farm near Scott Base.

The team from Antarctica New Zealand and Meridian Energy are laying foundations for a three- turbine wind farm at Ross Island. Yesterday, the temperature was minus 17 degrees celsius, with a wind chill making it -28C.

The engineers also face a lack of water for mixing concrete -- Antarctica gets almost no rainfall and is classed as a desert. To get around the problem, they have designed a Kiwi-made steel foundation to be put together on site.

When the foundations are completed, the team will lay electrical links to Scott Base and the nearby United States base McMurdo Station before the project wraps up for winter.

Stage 2, set down for next summer, will be to erect the turbines.

Designed to work in low temperatures, they will not have gearboxes, unlike most wind turbines.

The first turbines are expected to be up and running by the end of February 2010.

The project should save 463,000 litres of fuel a year at Scott Base, reducing power consumption by 11 per cent, and cutting carbon emissions by 1200 tonnes a year.

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Originally published by EASTON Paul.

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