SCHOOL YARD WIND TURBINE IN MEDFORD, MA

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 18:33.

northwind wind turbine medford mcglynn massachusetts rigid hub

This is a photo of the "Northwind 100"kw rigid hub/permanent magnet generator which was put into service January 30, 2008 in Medford, (a suburb of Boston) Massachusetts.   The machine is located directly adjacent (within 150’) to the recently constructed McGlynn Elementary School and brand new school play yard and public garden.   

 

 Medford – not usually thought of as one of the most progressive Cities in America – has got its act together in having the vision and skill to get this turbine funded and installed.   Although in terms of installed cost (apparently over $664,000) this 100 Kilo Watt output turbine is very exorbitant.   Read more about commissioning and cost of the turbine from Boston.com here

 When I visited,  the machine was operating in a 20mph+ northwest wind and was silent both upwind and directly beneath the tower.   If you put your ear to the air circulation vent in man-door at the base of the tower you could hear very little noise transmitted down through the tower.  

 With the manufacturer, Distributed Energy Systems announcing that about 20 of these machines were  in service in January of 2008, this machine is a relative newcomer to the wind turbine market. 

 When I asked one of the elementary school teachers what the reaction of the kids had been to the newly installed turbine, she told me that the kids would now tell her which way the wind was blowing and how fast it was blowing.

 Not to be a wet rag, and although I am a major supporter of wind turbines, the proximity of this turbine to the school and school play yard (when it could have been easily placed further away in the adjacent park) made me wonder:  what is the failure mode in this design?   

 Every machine has a weak link.   Fatigue. Lubrication failure. Vibration. Bolts coming loose. Lightening damage (notice 2 wires running from shaft out towards cooling fins on  primary support housing – these are intended to prevent lightening which may hit blades from traveling in a path through bearings/generator) etc.

 Vestus (having manufactured thousands of similar units) and other established wind turbine manufacturers know most of their machine’s “weak link” failure modes.  

Does Northwind?

 

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THis site reminds me of Medina

My older daughter goes to school in Medina - brand new school-in-a-boxes on what appears to be 100s of acres of former farmland, surrounded by house-in-a-boxes sprawled over huge lots that were once farmland... nothing to block wind for miles... would'a, could'a

Disrupt IT

School design

 This school is at least trying something...here in NEO....south-facing walls, roofs, wind, water go untapped.  Here are some images of the "new" Buhrer School in the CMSD system.  The last photo (brutalism style brick prison with silo) is a shot of

Luis Muñoz Marín

school, one short block away.    Where is the sustainable design here?

Micro ideas

  Can anyone attend one of these sessions and report back?  I will try and attend the wind power session:

http://www.10000littleideas.com/events.html

 

Need update

Does someone know how much money this school is saving or not in electric bills?  What the rate of production is? Most are about 30% of rated capacity so wondering if this is the same?

Any issues with maintenance? blade throws or ice throws.  Is it still operating.  Thanks.  would like up date. 

My community thinking about this because of all the grant money, will cost next to nothing, to put in with the taxpayer money paying for it.  Still have to cover maintenance and repairs. and insurance

Re: Medford, Mass. school wind turbine - response to jannie

Hello jannie, 

I reported about the Medford McGlynn School wind turbine in 2009 but haven't been back to the school to update my information. 

I suggest you contact the Medford McGlynn School directly   through their wind turbine  page on their web site.

Maybe you could link back to this discussion on Realneo in your correspondence with the school to allow the school to update all Realneo readers on the turbine's status and production.

I would enjoy an update!

Also feel free to communicate with me directly in private by clicking on my user name on Realneo and sending me a private email.

Thanks,

Jeff b

Turbine powered schools

Need update

Does someone know how much money this school is saving or not in electric bills?  What the rate of production is? Most are about 30% of rated capacity so wondering if this is the same?

Any issues with maintenance? blade throws or ice throws.  Is it still operating.  Thanks.  would like up date. 

My community thinking about this because of all the grant money, will cost next to nothing, to put in with the taxpayer money paying for it.  Still have to cover maintenance and repairs. and insurance

Jannie--my guess would be that these type of school demonstration projects (like the ridiculous "Reimaging projects" in NEO) go up and then are forgotten and not maintained as you suppose.