Climb assists for Kit Carson County Wind Project

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Excerpt: Power Climber Wind recently supplied their IBEX™ 1000 Climb Assist system to 34 new wind turbines in the Kit Carson Windpower Project near Burlington, Colorado. The addition of the new General Electric 1.5-MW turbines adds 51 MW of renewable energy to the 44 electric cooperatives in the Tri-St …

And the winner is…

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Excerpt: The National Safety Council has given the 2010 Industry Leader Award to Composites One. This award is given every year to the company who achieves the best safety performance within its industry. In all, 81 companies received the award. Winners are selected based on NAICS code, lowest total incid …

Ventilated safety helmet prevents heat buildup

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Excerpt: Heat is a hazard that is too easily ignored. To make it worse, wearing semi or non-permeable protective equipment adds to the risk of overheating or fatigue which leads to accidents on the job. The ventilated safety helmet from Gateway Safety can help minimize heat buildup under the shell of …

Handling lightning on a North Dakota wind farm

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Excerpt: North Dakota’s flat plains and strong, steady winds make it ideal for wind farms. But this part of the country is especially susceptible to extreme weather conditions. Summer brings the threat of lightning strikes to the 300-foot tall turbines and brutally cold temperatures are commonplace in …

An alternative to copper-based grounding

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Excerpt: Michael Mattera, Consultant, Bridgeport, Conn. commscope.com Wind turbine towers are a natural target for lightning strikes. A good grounding system plays a critical role guarding against catastrophic damage to the blades, electronics, transformer, nacelle, and collector system out to the subs …

A safer way to inspect turbine blades

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Excerpt: Power Climber Wind works with leading wind turbine OEMs, owners, and service companies to develop safe, reliable platforms, rigging equipment, and work procedures to make up-tower work more efficient than previously possible. For most blade inspections, maintenance, and repair operations, suspended …

Two sensors per blade makes turbine safer

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Excerpt: The pitch control system is among the most important on a wind turbine, say engineers at German turbine manufacturer Vensys Energy AG. The control measures, monitors, and adjusts the working angle of the rotor blades on a wind turbine, which can change its power output. The control also …

Climb assists headed to 66 Wyoming wind turbines

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Excerpt: The manufacturer of IBEX 1000 Climb Assists will supply 66 of them for new wind turbines in Glenrock, Wyoming. The Climb assists will be installed in the GE 1.5-MW wind turbines being constructed at the Top of the World project near Casper, Wyoming for its owners and operators. The patented IB …

LED obstruction light turns 20W into 2,000 candelas

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Excerpt: A manufacturer of LED lighting equipment has taken the wraps off its latest LED-based L-864 Red Medium Intensity Beacon. The lighting from Dialight, Farmingdale, New Jersey, features a compact flash head to reduce wind load on fixed obstructions such as wind turbines, towers, and bridges. Operating …

Tethered tools make up-tower work safer

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Excerpt: Gear Keeper retractable tethers and lanyards are precision attachments for tools and instruments weighing up to 25 lbs. Manufactured by California-based Hammerhead Industries, the tethers come in more than 3,000 different configurations that can be used for almost any industrial tool or application. …