GE announced this week that the company will supply 338 turbines for the Shepherd’s Flat wind farm project in Oregon. Slated to begin in 2010, the two-year project will be the largest wind farm in the U.S.
The $1.4 billion contract includes a 10-year service clause and will require 400 workers to build the farm. The project is expected to be able to power 235,000 California homes and will supply 10 percent of Southern California Edison’s renewable energy. The full story is available from Bloomberg News.
This news comes as NECA Director of Safety Jerry Rivera made a presentation last Thursday at the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH) meeting called “Alternate Energy, Transmission and Distribution, Including Smart Grid Concerns.” Rivera was there to discuss any possible safety issues that could arise from stimulus funding of renewable energy projects.
Rivera repeated NECA’s message that renewable energy work must be held to the same safety and performance standards as traditional electrical construction. He invited the committee and OSHA representatives to visit the Nebraska Chapter’s recently-opened Wind Training Facility in Ohama to get a closer look at the training facilities and curriculum NECA and the IBEW are using to ensure our workers are prepared for wind power installations.
“This isn’t the time to get into special-interest safety standards,” Rivera commented. “All renewable power sources are going to need to tap into a building’s electrical system or the grid. And that’s what NECA contractors have been successfully and safely doing for over a century. OSHA and our customers can trust us to keep doing it, no matter how the power is being generated.”