Managing Wind Farms in the San Gorgonio Pass

Feature AES Wind Generation Managing Wind Farms in the San Gorgonio Pass Palm Springs, California Photography by Christine Coates, Editor, Wind Today

Wind farms in the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs, CA are different from those in the Midwest. Imagine soldiers lined up in straight lines ready to march with military precision. Now visualize those soldiers returning from battle, still maintaining their formation, but with some members battered and others missing. That s what some of the wind farms in the San Gorgonio Pass look like. These wind farms consist of rows of different brands, sizes, and age of turbines that represent multiple owners over the years. The array is different from wind farms that are sited on ridges these California turbines capture wind sweeping through the Coachilla Valley and can stand closer together without concern regarding turbulence created by neighboring turbines they just need to worry about the length of the next turbine s blades. According to the California Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the San Gorgonio Pass area has steady westerly winds that are funneled between the San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountain Ranges. According to the BLM web site, this constriction between the mountains results in an acceleration of wind velocity to speeds suitable for wind energy development. The wide and open configuration of the pass also results in a relatively steady flow of wind without substantial turbulence. The BLM reports that 2,300 acres of private and 3,187 acres of BLM administered public lands in the San Gorgonio Pass are presently developed for wind energy production. The American Wind Energy Association s web site lists (as of June 30, 2008) more than 3,000 wind turbines sited at San Gorgonio comprising 40 different wind farms with total power capacity of 615.41 megawatts (MW). Twelve different wind turbine manufacturers some no longer operating have turbines in the valley. There are eleven different owners identified, and several are not named. It s in this environment that AES Wind Generation, Arlington, VA, has established operations as a wind farm owner and operator in the valley. AES Wind Generation The company owns and operates 100 MW of wind energy capacity in Palm Springs and provides O&M services for another 100 MW. In addition to its wind farms in California, AES owns or manages wind farms in Texas (Buffalo Gap), Oregon (Condon), Minnesota (Lake Benton I), Facility Highlights Location: San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs, CA Altech III Size: 25.1 MW Turbines: 254 Micon 65 kw and 100 kw Year Completed: 1985 San Jacinto Size: 5.0 MW Turbines: 53 Windmatic 95 kw Year Completed: Mountain View I Size: 44.4 MW Turbines: 74 Mitsubishi 600 kw Year Completed: 2001 Mountain View II Size: 22.2 MW Turbines: 37 Mitsubishi 600 kw Year Completed: 2001 Managed Project #1* Size: 4.2 MW Turbines: 7 Micon 600 kw Year Completed: 1997 Managed Project #2* Size: 43.4 MW Turbines: 62 Micon 700 kw Year Completed: 1999 Managed Project #3* Size: 2.1 MW Turbines: 3 Micon 700 kw Year Completed: 1999 Managed Project #4* Size: 22.4 MW Turbines: 34 Vestas 660 kw Year Completed: 2003 * Managed projects names withheld for confidentiality Key Personnel: General Manager: Merritt Brown Executive Assistant & Special Programs Administrator: Jo Christensen Team Leader Project Operations: Rick Kolitz Team Leader Project Operations: Rick Zavits Team Leader High Voltage, Facilities, Project Operations & Safety coordinator: Greg Thill Team Leader Purchasing, Warehouse, Fabrication, Heavy Equipment & Electronics: Dennis Hauf Team Leader Performance Engineering & Data: Dean Begnaud

Hauf s team... re-conditions or re-engineers components for the wind turbines. Iowa (Storm Lake II), and veteran and manages the two farms for Wyoming (Foote Creek AES while also working as a subcontrac- and Rock River). tor for wind turbine manufacturer Merritt Brown became Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, New York, general manager of AES Wind NY (212-969-9000). Generation s Palm Springs AES purchased Mountain View I and facility in North Palm Springs, CA II from Bicent Power, Easton, MD, in (760-329-6431), in November 2007. March 2008. The wind farms had been The company s San Gorgonio wind developed and built by SeaWest in 2001 holdings consist of 10 wind farms and still operate under a 10-year turbine which were developed and built by warranty from Mitsubishi. SeaWest Wind Energy from 1984 to I m a Mitsubishi warranty contrac- 2003. AES acquired SeaWest in January tor, but also an AES employee, says In the San Gorgonio Pass, 2,300 acres of private and 3,187 acres of BLM administered public lands are presently developed for wind energy production. Palm Springs, CA 2005. AES also provides third party management of operations and maintenance (MOMA) for other wind farms in the area. We do hands-on operation and maintenance (O&M) for eight projects, says Brown. We manage two other projects, compiling data and reviewing reports for their owners. As general manager, Brown directs Zavits. He explains that he supervises AES maintenance and repair crews that work on the Mitsubishi turbines, but he also answers to the manufacturer. Mitsubishi s site representative will direct me regarding the work he would like to see done, and I get it off to the crews and make sure we re delivering a quality product for the manufacturer, more than 90 people who are managed says Zavits. by team leaders in the areas of project In addition to his responsibilities to operations; high voltage, facilities, and Mitsubishi, Zavits ensures that both the Merritt Brown, general manager of AES Wind Generation s Palm Springs facility. safety; purchasing, warehouse, fabrication, heavy equipment and electronics; performance engineering and data; and special programs. I handle the contract side of our business, says Brown, and the team leaders manage the projects and handle the execution of our day-to-day work loads. He says the team leaders direct owners AES and the manufacturer Mitsubishi receive accurate reports on how the project is running and what work is performed each day. Maintenance Rick Kolitz has worked for SeaWest and AES for 11 years. Kolitz is the team leader, project operations, for four lead technicians who manage assign- managed projects. ments and supervision of field techni- Rick Zavits brother, James, works as cians. a lead technician for Kolitz. Rick Zavits, team leader, project operations for Mountain View I and II. Each team at AES Palm Springs facility, Brown says, contributes to the company s responsibilities for wind farm management and maintenance, component supply, and technician training. In this industry, you ll find people either went to school together or they re related, says Brown. Kolitz and his team do maintenance and repair work on turbines for four wind farms comprised of different brands and sizes of turbines. Management According to Brown, each team Rick Zavits, team leader, project leader and the technicians he supervises operations for the Mountain View I and are dedicated to specific wind farms so II wind farms, is a 14-year wind industry they become experts on those turbines.

From the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) room, Kolitz and his crew monitor turbines operations. Computers at the turbines provide data regarding temperatures outside temperatures and gear oil temperatures as well as whether units are running properly, says Kolitz. Kolitz says several crews are assigned to general maintenance of the turbines which involves greasing, lubing, testing, and torqueing. Other crews are dedicated to troubleshooting and repairing turbines. Technicians come in periodically during the day or call for a report to see which turbines have gone off-line, says Kolitz. We keep a log book for each turbine s history so we know the actual input and output of each machine, he continues. Stall Strips. Kolitz says his projects have meteorological (met) towers that monitor actual wind speed for several areas within the wind farm. The actual wind speed on each turbine (the amount of kilowatts a turbine puts out each minute) is also documented. Wind turbines produce more energy in the denser climate created by cooler winter temperatures, says Kolitz. According to Kolitz, it s important to monitor wind speed with Micon 700 kw wind turbines at one project so they don t capture too much wind and trip offline from over production. We try to keep production right around the 700 kw rate without producing too much more, says Kolitz. Kolitz explains that if a turbine shuts down for over-production, it will remain shut down until wind speeds drop below a set parameter that allows the turbines to restart. If this happens, we lose a lot of production, Kolitz says. According to Brown, wind turbines with variable pitch blades can be adjusted remotely to capture more or less wind, depending on wind speed. These older turbines, however, have fixed blades, says Brown, so they need something else to reduce the wind s impact on the blade. Kolitz says that during seasonal changes technicians can manually adjust the pitch of blades on some turbines that have fixed rotors. These turbines, with blades 44-48 meters in diameter, are too large to do that, Kolitz says. Brown explains that by applying one to three stall strips 12-inch long Response No. 111

strips of plastic applied to the back side We also sometimes have old units of the blade a couple of inches from the decommissioned at other California leadings operators can create a sites from which we can pull parts or turbulence in the air coming across the control components from those units, blade so the blade doesn t take the full says Brown. impact of the wind. When a gearbox needs repair, Hauf s As it gets warmer, we ll remove the group rebuilds it themselves. stall strips so the turbines can achieve It takes 30-40 hours to rebuild a higher production with less wind, says gearbox, says Hauf. That includes taking Kolitz. the gearbox apart, cleaning it, putting bearings back on, and reassembling. Component Supply Generators are sent out for rewind at a Responsibility for stocking materials local repair shop. Shafts and housings are such as stall strips belongs to Dennis also sent out for reconditioning. Hauf, a 19-year wind industry veteran, The fabrication technicians do their and his team in the purchasing, own mechanical, welding, lathe, and mill warehouse, fabrication, heavy equipment and electronics department at the team leaders and technicians become work, according to Brown. Employee Training More than 3,000 wind turbines Progr ogram sited at San Gorgonio comprise Brown says the 40 differ erent ent wind farms. variety of wind turbines represented at the Palm Springs wind farms requires that Palm Springs facility. experts on the machines they work on, Our warehouse is set up with rows while having a good, broad understanding about wind farm work. of parts and tools dedicated to different wind projects, says Hauf. Even the Our Palm Springs facility is a many varieties of lubricants have their proving ground for a lot of technicians own section. who learn the job here, then go to our Hauf s team also maintains the other projects across the country, says facility s maintenance trucks, crane, and Brown. boom trucks; and re-conditions or reengineers components for the wind employee training program, the He says AES maintains its own turbines. Employee Education and Advancement Brown explains that some of the Program (EEAP), which keeps company-wide testing consistent. turbines at the Palm Springs wind farms were built in the 1980s and their EEAP allows our employees to manufacturers have gone out of voluntarily grow and learn, says business. Brown. As people go through the If the turbine s technology is no training, they advance, starting at Dlonger supported, says Brown, the Tech level and progressing to A-Tech, fabrication and electronics technicians he says. can re-engineer some of the parts by Jo Christensen, executive assistant and taking off a functioning unit and remaking it. the training program for AES special programs administrator, manages technicians. Micon 600 wind turbines stand above a bone yard of used components. In terms of EEAP, says Brown, we want more well-rounded technicians so they all learn electricity, gearbox, mechanical aptitude. Things like that are part of the job right down to the print reading and computer use. Christensen says employees advance as far and as quickly as they choose. This is not just written testing, say Christensen. Employees have to also show they can do certain tasks hands on. Brown says the skills confirmation part of the program includes the more practical side of wind farm work such as alignment, oil change, blade removal, and gear box setting. Christensen says technicians assigned to different turbines must demonstrate expertise with those styles of turbines. We design different test levels for different jobs, says Christensen. She explains that employees are not all turbine technicians. Different tests are designed for shop technicians, purchasing and warehouse staff, electronics techs, the facilities techs, and highvoltage electricians. Each job has a different testing curriculum, she concludes. Christine Coates, editor