Wind turbine construction is proceding smoothly

Construction of Luther College's new wind turbine is going smoothly.

Project manager Jay Gislason of Diversified Energy Solutions says his crew finished building the rotor for the wind turbine on Wednesday.  That leaves the task of attaching the rotor and the blades to the tower.

Gislason says the major delay so far in the project has come from strong winds, but when those die down, it should take only four or five more hours of work to complete this first phase of the 1.6-megawatt wind turbine.

Once erected, the blades will slowly turn in the wind to protect the turbine bearings until the connection is established with Alliant Energy and the turbine is commissioned by General Electric.

The turbine is currently scheduled to begin commercial operations in mid to late October.

Gislason says his company has done a lot of projects similar to the one at Luther College, especially involving municipalities, rural electric cooperatives and colleges.  His crew will leave Decorah later this week to begin work on a second wind turbine near the campus of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.