Allete Clean Energy has contracted Tecsis to supply wind turbine blades for the modernization of its Storm Lake wind facility located in Iowa and Lake Benton wind facility in Minnesota.
In August 2017, the company announced the $80m restoration project that includes replacing select blades, gearboxes and generators on turbines at the Lake Benton wind site in Lincoln County, Minnesota, and the Storm Lake I and II wind sites in Buena Vista and Cherokee counties, Iowa.
The project is aimed at enhancing the turbine performance and reliability, generating federal production tax credits at each site and supporting the renewal of power sale agreements at the Storm Lake sites.
Allete Clean Energy said that Tecsis will provide more than 300 blades for the project, using the latest design and manufacturing technology to drive improved wind turbine generator performance.
Allete Clean Energy operations general manager Bill Sawyer said: “Tecsis provided a cost-effective, turnkey solution that has exceeded our expectations. Tecsis has demonstrated its ability to design, manufacture and deliver blades and manage the project that will position Storm Lake and Lake Benton to continue safe, reliable and increasingly efficient clean energy production for years to come.”
Allete Clean Energy’s sites produce approximately 700,000MWh of energy per year in total, representing about 50% of its current electricity sales.
The company said that the refurbishment is being staged from 2017 through 2020 to minimize turbine downtime and improve safe energy generation at each site.
TECSIS chief executive officer Fabiano Mori said: “We are extremely excited about our partnership with ALLETE, a world-class power producer that constantly seeks the best energy solutions for North America’s renewables market.
“Their ability to explore opportunities and their passion to create innovative solutions are undoubtedly some of the main reasons for their growth and something we take as an inspiration for our own business. We hope this project leads to more opportunities together in the future, helping them to deliver affordable, sustainable power to communities across the U.S.”
The company said that apart from the restorations, the project has also completed installation of new communications infrastructure at the sites, including new fiber optic connections, servers, and data acquisition and management systems to improve the operation of each site and secure the best performance.
