SCHOOL YARD WIND TURBINE IN MEDFORD, MA

This is a photo of the "Northwind 100"kw rigid hub/permanent magnet generator which was put into service January 30, 2008 in Medford, (a suburb of Boston) Massachusetts.   The machine is located directly adjacent (within 150’) to the recently constructed McGlynn Elementary School [1] and brand new school play yard and public garden.   

 Medford – not usually thought of as one of the most progressive Cities in America – has got its act together in having the vision and skill to get this turbine funded and installed.   Although in terms of installed cost (apparently over $664,000) this 100 Kilo Watt output turbine is very exorbitant. [2]   Read more about commissioning and cost of the turbine from Boston.com here [3]

 When I visited,  the machine was operating in a 20mph+ northwest wind and was silent both upwind and directly beneath the tower.   If you put your ear to the air circulation vent in man-door at the base of the tower you could hear very little noise transmitted down through the tower.  

 With the manufacturer, Distributed Energy Systems announcing that about 20 of these machines were  in service in January of 2008 [4], this machine is a relative newcomer to the wind turbine market. 

 When I asked one of the elementary school teachers what the reaction of the kids had been to the newly installed turbine, she told me that the kids would now tell her which way the wind was blowing and how fast it was blowing.

 Not to be a wet rag, and although I am a major supporter of wind turbines, the proximity of this turbine to the school and school play yard (when it could have been easily placed further away in the adjacent park) made me wonder:  what is the failure mode in this design?   

 Every machine has a weak link.   Fatigue. Lubrication failure. Vibration. Bolts coming loose. Lightening damage (notice 2 wires running from shaft out towards cooling fins on  primary support housing – these are intended to prevent lightening which may hit blades from traveling in a path through bearings/generator) etc.

 Vestus (having manufactured thousands of similar units) and other established wind turbine manufacturers know most of their machine’s “weak link” failure modes.  

Does Northwind?