Cape Cod Closah Ta New Wind Pahk

Cape Cod Times reports that Cape Wind Associates LLC has cleared another bureaucratic hurdle. To break it down, basically they now have a plan in place on how they will negotiate the price of power from the wind farm with the people buying it, National Grid. This is important because power companies like National Grid try to lock down good rates so they can have reliable power for a fixed price. Once the prices are agreed upon, developers like Cape Wind Associates LLC can go out and get financing for their project. People providing that financing, such as banks and investors, like to know about how much they will be making and what kind of return they can expect.

I don't think that there are many in the wind business who envy Cape Wind Associates. This company is working hard to bring off shore wind power to the North East coast. But they are up against a classic case of NIMBYism. The back yard in question being the ocean view. And those who claim the ocean happen to be some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country. I find this dilemma to be fascinating.

I want to work in off-shore wind because I like living near the ocean. And though I myself like uninterrupted views of the ocean horizon. I also happen to like wind and I know that off-shore wind is incredibly efficient. Water, much like the flat plains of northwestern Oklahoma, offers little to no resistance to the wind. The proposed park of 130 turbines could provide clean energy to 126,000 homes.

One solution to the dilemma would be moving the turbines so far off shore they could eventually disappear entirely from view. I'm not sure how far offshore they would have to be, it's a good distance, they are 300 feet plus tall and the higher up the person on shore is the farther off they should be. But deeper water means more building materials which reduces the return on investment. As off-shore wind advances in the coming decade we will see such concerns play out as people balance their desire for clean power against their need to look into vast abyss.

You Can Go Your Own Way

While I don't necessarily associate thrill seeking with a safe job environment, yesterday's New York Times brings us a story about how rock climbers are finding employment as blade repair specialists in the wind industry.

As wind is a relatively young industry I think there are many opportunities yet to be discovered for entrepreneurial types. While a sure fire way into the industry would be working for one of the larger mulitnationals such as GE or Siemens there are drawbacks to such a position. You may find yourself to be little more than a cog in the machine, and an expendable one at that. Further you are subject to the restrictions placed on you by the corporation and have less than an ideal amount of control over your lifestyle and location.

But if you look at the guys featured in this article, rock climbers who have made a career of their hobbies, you see that you can still have independence and a great career doing something you love. These guys are maintaining the blades on wind turbines, an important function as maintaining the correct shape of the blades increases efficiency and efficiency equals output equals dollars.

As great as this sounds, starting your own business in a field as potentially dangerous as wind has its obstacles such as proving a track record of safety and getting the liability insurance and certifications. But once you get over the first bump you may find yourself in a high demand position, calling the shots at the end of your own rope.

Day 13: What’s this Thingy For?

A stalled train blocked my way to class, adding power to wise words of Milli Vannilli that no matter where you are, you can “Blame it on the Train.” We started the day with a quiz. And after reviewing the quiz we went on to discuss more electrical safety. They showed a before and later picture of a guy who got a burn to the hand. There was a charred and bruised thumb and a small half inch slit a few inches under the hand, they said that was an exit wound. They flipped the slide and showed the later picture of the same arm now split wide open from wrist to elbow from the swelling caused by the electrocution, the instructors said the electricity cooked him from the inside out. We used this period to covered the levels of protective equipment, barriers, and distances that one must maintain when approaching different levels of voltage.

After this we were introduced to the multimeter. We had seen safety videos from multimeter manufacturer’s but hadn’t worked with the meters themselves. One of the things I found surprising was that I took an electrical engineering course at the New York City College of Technology and they didn’t teach us as much about multimeters as this class did. They just told us to buy one and bring it to class. In the Wind Tech School they taught us what everything you see on a multimeter means. They told us about the category ratings on the multimeter, a indication of the level of voltage one can work with when given that equipment. We learned what all the little symbols on the back of the mulitmeter meant. They are the stamps of independent testers and warnings, many of these multimeters are not disposable and must be treated as electrical waste. I was happy to be learning all of this, but it just made it all the more disappointing how at City Tech, the college I paid for out of my own pocket, a school that was supposed to teach me electrical engineering just assumed you would be able to use one of these things out of the package.

We took a few quizzes. I always do well on these because they are open book. If I’m not positive on something, I look it up. The coming quizzes were particularly simple because it was how to use certain instruments, most of which only have a few uses. The rest of the day we went over lots of electrical equipment including meggers, voltage pens, infrared thermometer, phase rotation meters, and the handling of compressed gasses. After all that it was time to go home.

Day 12: Be Here Now

We were running a bit behind on our course work so in order to make up for it we came in at 7:30 AM. The typical pre-class bullshit session consisted of us listening to one guy complain about how he loves his girlfriend but his wife can’t stand her.

The instructors started us off with Fire Safety training, learning about fire extinguishers and the various types. I didn’t know there was more than one type. There are different versions that cover combustible material fires, Class A. Class B covers flammable liquids, Class C is for electrical fires, and there are even ones that can extinguish combustible metals like magnesium, Class D. Most extinguishers cover the first 3, and you’ll see ABC on the side of them. We also learned what those fire hazard diamonds (aka NFPA 704) you see on buildings are, blue is the health risk, red is how flammable the materials are considered, yellow is reactivity, white is special info a fire fighter might want to know.

The class moved on to Confined Space Safety. This one gives me the heebie-jeebies a bit. I’m not claustrophobic, I can get into a tight spot if I wish, as long as I can get out in a hurry. That being said spelunking is not for me, and watching people do it freaks me out. You may wonder if the inside of a wind turbine qualifies as confined space, it doesn’t actually. It is pretty spacious in those bigger turbines. Though there are parts of it, such as the hub that do qualify.

After this was machine guarding. This is the one hazard that makes my skin crawl. The idea of getting sucked into a machine or having pieces of your body torn off makes me go all icky inside. After this horror show, complete with pictures, was over, we went on to respiratory protection. After a morning break we moved on to Lock Out/Tag Out procedure. This is procedural protocol used when shutting down or powering up different systems, be they electric, hydraulic, or pneumatic. Very simply it means “Get out of the way of anything dangerous because conditions are about to change.” The instructor placed a lot of emphasis on this one, people could get electrocuted or maimed if they aren’t properly notified of the coming changes. Because of the inherent dangers, the instructors gave us this transcendental piece of advice, “Be Here Now.” Concentrate on the moment, don’t think about the fight you had with your girlfriend or what you’re doing this weekend. Concentrate on this moment, and keep your friends safe. We went on to cover hazardous material handling and then took a test on the safety materials.

Passing this test meant that we were now OSHA certified, we no longer had to guess and then suffer from the unpleasant results. It was open book and open neighbor, basically you were guaranteed a 100% on the exam. They do this because they want to emphasize a culture of double checking. If you have a safety question, you should look it up. I now had two certifications under my belt. I was feeling pretty good about that.

We moved on to safety in the wind farm. The main hazards on a wind farm are falling, electrical shock, moving parts and extreme temperatures. This lesson was accompanied by story time. I had read in Paul Gipe’s “Wind Power” the story of the man who had gotten his positioning lanyard stuck in the rotating gears of a wind turbine and was then ground up. I was surprised to learn that the instructor not only knew the guy, but he also knew the turbine that did it. Apparently the break wasn’t good so the blades kept slowly spinning, my instructor had to get a piece of oak and a buddy to improvise a break on the main shaft. The instructor said the oak was smoldering before the blades stopped spinning. When the unfortunate soul who got sucked into the machine was working on it, he had a similar problem, there was no way to stop the blades from turning but unlike our instructor, he didn’t secure that lanyard.

We also heard about a crane accident involving high voltage lines. A crane crashed into the power line and turned over, a guy approached the accident and touched the crane. And he was electrocuted. The instructors rapped on their wooden desk to demonstrate what his body felt like after the shock. We continued on through more turbine safety, and broke for lunch with the images fresh in my mind.

When we returned we began to cover safety procedures. I was happy to hear that most job sites have safety meetings at least weekly. The wind farm manager who spoke to us the first week said they have daily meetings. There are also meetings in a couple of different incarnations. There are training meetings, review meetings, and tailgate meetings. The latter is pretty much what it sounds like, your crew gets together around the truck and reviews what they are doing, what tools and protection gear they need and what the hazards are. Bad things can happen if you don’t fill out the right paper work or take note of the specific conditions. One of the checklists they showed us was the JSA, Job Safety Analysis. This is essentially a checklist that you can go through that covers most of the contingencies in the field. I was surprised how each team filled their form out slightly differently. The variation concerned me a bit, because everyone has their own individual understanding of the situation at hand and the safety involved, this could lead to trouble for those who are cavalier and delays for those who are overly cautious.

In the middle of all this safety procedure we were surprised by a fire drill. We weren’t sure if it was an actual drill or a pulled alarm, but it ended up being a routine drill. A mildly interesting coincidence when people are covering safety procedure. After the drill we went over electrical measurement safety. Again I found myself surprised by how dangerous electricity can be as we were introduced to the electrical equivalent of the boogey man, transients. Only this boogey man is very real and deadly. But first we were shown pictures of an unfortunate dumbass who tried to steal electrical cables while they were still energized. He was burned to a crisp and blown apart by the amount of energy that went through him. He looked like something from the closing scenes of Time Bandits.

Back to transients. These are also known as power surges or spikes. They’re the reason for surge protectors. They have a variety of causes: lightening striking power lines, short circuits or turning off a motor. Do your lights flicker when the heater kicks on? Transient. Despite the fact that this little spike can be upwards of 8000 volts, they can be managed and are relatively mundane except when you are measuring high voltage circuits. If you happen to performing electrical measurements on an energized line and one of these comes through, the results could be disastrous. Essentially your multimeter prongs can be the vector of an arc flash as the power surge tries to arc between them. Arc blasts are the hottest thing on the planet reaching temperatures of up to 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit, four times hotter than the sun. Metal is vaporized, clothes ignited, eyes blinded and the resulting concussive blast is strong enough to kill. We were told that if you had the proper protective gear on and get hit by an arc blast the most you can hope for is an open casket funeral. Arc blasts happen 5 to 10 times a day in the construction industry. So you want to work on de-energized circuits to avoid this, and wear protective gear.

After all this fun we went on to Ohm’s Law. We had reviewed this a couple weeks ago with the thumb charts. So this was largely a refresher. Then we watched a video about safety and multimeters put together by the manufactures of high grade electrical equipment, Fluke. Their multimeters run about $350 a piece. But each one is equipped with a series of safety features that could save your life or at least a finger or two, that may be enough to justify the cost. The video covered more in detail the dangers of arc blast and how it can happen. The spookiest thing about transients is your multimeter will buzz or crack a fraction of a second before the transient hits you. A warning I would want to do without. I went home that night again to not a lot of sleep.

Day 11: You Guess, You Die

(FYI: The last few weeks were very hectic and study intensive. These posts are coming to you later than they happened.)

Having completed the rope safety and rescue portions of the course we moved on to the more bookish aspect of the course. We started the morning with an introduction to wind industry. They showed us a video produced by the American Wind Energy Association. It was largely a propaganda piece. But it had some interesting tidbits, like you can run 300 homes off one megawatt of electricity. A useful bit of information. I’m suspicious of propaganda, no matter how much I like the subject of propaganda.

After the video we went into a brief history of wind. It has been utilized as a power source for thousands of years. Just in the last few decades it has been growing. We are continually reminded that the industry is about to explode. I’ll believe it when I see it.

We also discussed the advantages and disadvantage of wind. The advantages are it’s clean, it’s renewable, and it saves water. The disadvantages are it’s inconsistent, it can be noisy, it can cause flicker. This lighthearted introduction to the industry at large was followed by what we could call the “Blood On The Highway” portion of our course. When one takes driver’s education they always show lots of gruesome pictures in order to scare students into driving safely, often showing a movie called “Blood On The Highway.” I don’t want to make light of the topic however. This is something to take very seriously. Your life and the life of others is on the line.

So we started reviewing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines for a variety of topics. Before we began this, we took a pretest on OSHA standards. We were instructed not to guess. They advised, “You guess, you die.” After the test, which I left largely blank, not wanting to die, we moved into covering proper safety protocols.

One interesting thing mentioned was that OSHA and safety standards are an evolving thing. That is convenient because the wind industry itself is evolving. OSHA isn’t sure how to classify wind or handle wind. So we covered a lot of things that we would be involved with the wind industry.

First and very importantly came electrical safety. This is probably the scariest thing out there. Before I started the program I was worried about great heights and falling. Now I am scared shitless of electricity. One of the reasons I am nearly paralyzed is because of the video they showed us of the Indian man on a train. If you google “man electrocuted on train” it pops right up. Essentially a guy absentminded touches a high voltage line while strolling on the roof of a train. What happens to him is exactly what you think of when you think of God smiting someone. A big flash, a cloud of smoke, and a hunk of charcoal that used to be a man. The instructors knocked on the desk to demonstrate what he would feel like. I had trouble sleeping that night.

We shortly moved on to fall safety. This was mostly a review of topics we covered the previous week. We went on to cover Personal Protection Equipment, Power Tools, Ladder Safety, Scaffolds, and Excavations. We then took 6 to 10 question quizzes on each of these topics. While killing time after the quizzes we looked at some "Safety at work awards," people doing stupid shit including bow hunting gone awry.

After that we went on to some crane safety. Surprisingly complicated stuff, but cranes are an essential part of turbine construction. I will be giving these behemoths a wide birth especially after they showed us a picture of a guy who was crushed under a crane’s tracks. It was probably the gnarliest picture I’ve ever seen. The man was flattened and his head was elongated and you could see a white cottage cheese looking material spilling out from what used to be his head. Horribly disgusting. Stay away from cranes boys and girls.

We then moved on to moving materials and pushed through to back safety. I went home to a restless night’s sleep.

Mixed Messages from OG&E and OU

Something Oklahoma University students can give thanks for this holiday season is a future in clean energy. Thursday's Daily Oklahoman reported that state regulators signed off Wednesday on a new OG&E wind farm being built out in Woodward. This approval will help OU achieve a goal of being powered entirely by renewable energy by 2013. This will actually be a bit of publicity coup helpful for recruiting green minded students and possibly making Oklahoma look more like a wind energy leader. To my eyes this appears to be good news, a solid commitment to rewnewable energy by the state of Oklahoma.

But what exactly did we approve?

It's not until the last few paragraphs of the article that you discover what the Oklahoma Corporation Commision signed off on is a rider increasing OG&E customer's utility bills about 90 cents per month over the next year. Then it will drop to about 80 cents the next year.

Clean energy investment is a top-heavy thing. You dump a lot of money into the front end, namely the construction costs of these $3-million-dollar-a-piece turbines and then you pump a lot of money out of them seven to ten years down the road. Turbines last around 20 years. If they're well maintained it could be longer.

It doesn't seem fair that OG&E customers should have to pay a dollar more per month so that OG&E can recoup construction costs on something they understand will be very profitable down the road. It might be different if there was any promise to customers that they would see a rebate of some kind when the turbines start to turn a profit. But this is basically a consumer tax pushed through using the publicity of hope and green energy.

Also the rider doesn't appear to benefit those paying for it. The article states the wind farm will generate 101 megawatts for Oklahoma University's Norman campus. That is enough power to run about 30,000 homes. Does OU campus require that much power? Perhaps. They have 30,000 students and 3,000 faculty, but they don't all live on campus. I'm sure the lights at the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium eat a little more power than the average home. But what happens when the lights aren't on?

What upsets me most about this move by the OG&E and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is that wind energy is profitable, but this rider makes it appear that it isn't. It is an investment that takes several years to pay back and I understand that lots of people would rather see their investments pay off in a year or two rather than seven to ten. If you start sticking your consumers with start-up costs for your profitable venture, you're going to stir up a significant backlash against green energy. Wind will look more and more like a scam to milk customers rather than the profitable, necessary, and beneficial investment that it is.

Day 10: Help Yourself

Today was a terrifically short day. We started by finishing our pick-off. I messed this one up a bit. When doing a pick-off rescue you lower yourself to the victim on a rope. Then you transfer the victim to your rope by attaching the six-to-one pulley system to the rope you’re hanging on. I had trouble with this one because I attached the six-to-one to the wrong rope. The instructor clued me in on this. But once I got that sorted out, the rescue went smoothly.

After that came the simplest and coolest rescue, the self rescue. With the self rescue, you use a kit that you bring up with you to the tower. In the kit is a smaller version of your rope rider. We were told this one was military grade. Attached to your fall arrest is a rope ladder. When you find yourself hanging from your fall arrest, you can deploy this rope ladder and then climb it in order to reach up and attach the small rope rider to an anchor attached slightly above the clip that caught you. At this point you should have enough slack on your fall arrest to unattach the clip on your dorsal d-ring and then you can slowly slide to safety on your mini rope rider.

The group moved quickly through this and we were done for the day at about half-past twelve. I volunteered to go up the tower and gather some of the anchors and ropes we used to prevent any falls. Once I was safe on the ground, I headed to Oklahoma City to hang with the family.