Last steps in the foundation for our Re-driven 10k wind turbine

The last step of building the foundation is taking the forms off and the dirt is pushed back.

Now were back to waiting. First, waiting for the cement to cure and then for the tower and turbine to arrive.

Rodney from Rual Bolt Generation and Wind says the parts will be coming in about 4-7 weeks. He said he would try to do a better job at keeping us up-to-date on what is happening.

The next layer of the foundation

The next layer is made with forms that sit above the underground base.

The top layer of the foundation contains the bolts that that support the tower. The tallest pipes are conduit that will hold the electric cable coming down from the top of the tower and come out under ground to connect to the house.

Pouring the Cement for our Redriven Wind Turbine foundation

Six inches of rain added to the fun and created a big mess for the cement pouring. We had to get a special pump and pipeline to transport the cement to the turbine area. With all the rain, the cement truck would have gotten buried in the mud. So we had an unexpected expense to pump the cement from the driveway to the turbine site. The installers were very nice and professional inspite of the gruling rainy work conditions.

The digging begins!

The digging begins for the foundation of our wind turbine.

Still no digging

Déjà vu

We are still waiting for the digging to begin. They say it will be the beginning of next week if all goes well. Apparently, the digging on the projects before ours are are not going so well. They said they would be here Wednesday last week.


I got a copy of a letter from NYSERDA. The letter that said our installers had 120 days to get the system connected. Unfortunately, the letter was un-dated. We got our approval from NYSERDA back in July. I would think those 120 are running out soon.

Getting ready for the tower and cabling

This week the people that place little flags to mark the electric and phone lines will be coming. This is to make sure that we don’t dig in the wrong area for the wind turbine foundation and the underground cables to attach to the inverter.

It is also time to get insurance. I talked to my insurance company back in February when I started this project.

One article on the net that I found helpful on insurance was this one by Mick Sagrillo, Sagrillo Power & Light


http://www.awea.org/smallwind/sagrillo/ms_insur2.html


We’ll need insurance for an “appurtenant structure” and possibly liability insurance (which we already have). From what I’ve read so far, it seems New York State doesn’t allow utilities to require liability insurance.

More info on Redriven the company

I found this interesting article from AgriNews about Redriven – it is old, but I had never seen it before. This gives a little more info about the company.

http://www.agrinewsinteractive.com/fullstory.htm?ArticleID=9835&ShowSection=Front%20Page

My installer Rodney Weaver from Rural Generation and Bolt is quoted too.