The pieces started arriving for the second wind turbine to be installed at Tooele Army Depot last Thursday.
Semitrailers transported the massive sections of the 1.7 megawatt wind turbine that will help provide a secure power grid, according to a release from the depot. The windmill is being installed after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $5.5 million contract last July to Icenogle Construction Management Inc. of San Francisco.
“This project demonstrates the Army’s continued commitment to help reduce Department of Defense energy dependency,” said Royal Rice, the depot’s energy manager in the release.
The turbine is expected to generate about 4.7 million kWh every year, which is enough to power 500 to 550 homes, according to the release.
“The new wind turbine, together with the existing wind turbine, solar array, back-up generators, battery storage system, micro grid and other renewable sources planned, will help provide a sustainable and secure power source for the depot,” said Dave Simpson, the Corps project manager.
In April, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $5 million contract for a control system for renewable energy installations at Tooele Army Depot. The control system will oversee a grid that will contain both windmills, a solar array, a 1.2 megawatt diesel generator and a battery storage and backup system, according to project manager David Simpson, from an interview in April.
The second turbine and solar array should allow the installation to generate as much as 90 percent of the depot’s total energy requirements at its peak, Simpson said.
The control system is part of the depot’s response to meeting federal “net zero” goals for its energy needs with on-site renewable sources by 2020.