TURBINE BLADE TO BE USED AS A TRAINING AID

A damaged wind-turbine blade has found a new home in the Energy Lab at Lake Area Technical College.

The blade, from a turbine north of Elkton, was donated to the school after a well-aimed lighting strike ruined three-quarters of its colossal 200 foot span.  Technicians on the MN Dakota Wind Project removed the blade and carefully separated a 50 foot piece – the mostly-preserved “root” section that attaches to the turbine’s rotor or “nacelle”.

Energy Operations Instructor Roger Solum called the donated piece an “exciting and important training aid.”

“We’re grateful to Iberdrola Renewables for this chance to get up-close and personal with an actual wind turbine blade” said Solum.  Students will have the opportunity for hands-on dissecting and repair, getting to know the inner workings and material of the blade. The larger-than-life training tool will rest on the floor of the Energy Lab until program faculty decide the best place for it.