Thursday, December 13, 2007

Mechanical problems still wind mills

LACKAWANNA, N.Y. (AP) _ A wind farm on the Lake Erie shoreline is temporarily idle as crews work to replace the gear boxes on all eight turbines.

The Steel Winds project got up and running at a former Bethlehem Steel site about six months ago and was the first to use the massive Liberty 2.5 Megawatt turbines commercially.

But engineers found that the gears' timing was off, causing the windmills to operate unevenly. Bob Gates, senior vice president of the manufacturer, ClipperWind, said repairs will take several months. They involve removing all three blades on each turbine _ each longer than the wing of a Boeing 747.

The wind farm is operated by UPC Wind and BQ Energy.

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