Comment Re:Some notes (Score 1) 661
I was actually part of the construction crew that installed the Waymart windmills. It's kind of funny hearing them mentioned here on Slashdot, or anywhere else for that matter. It still seems
like such an implausible project for a little place like Waymart...
Each tower required a 50ft deep well, into which we placed a ring of 30 or 40ft long steel bolts, and then filled with concrete. The longest and hardest part of that job was fighting to dig our way through that Pennsylvania mountain stone. One night it poured rain and filled all the empty wells (literally, all 50ft) and we had to take a week or more to pump them all out. I was one of the lucky few who got to stand in the foot of sludge at the bottom of the well to hold the bolts while they were set in place. Good times.
They certainly are an amazing sight to see coming into view as you cross the mountains. However I can't help but wonder how much more money and effort went into solving the engineering peculiarities inherent in putting them up on a forested mountain in NEPA than on a flat, stone-free field somewhere in the Midwest. It wouldn't be my first choice for a site.
Each tower required a 50ft deep well, into which we placed a ring of 30 or 40ft long steel bolts, and then filled with concrete. The longest and hardest part of that job was fighting to dig our way through that Pennsylvania mountain stone. One night it poured rain and filled all the empty wells (literally, all 50ft) and we had to take a week or more to pump them all out. I was one of the lucky few who got to stand in the foot of sludge at the bottom of the well to hold the bolts while they were set in place. Good times.
They certainly are an amazing sight to see coming into view as you cross the mountains. However I can't help but wonder how much more money and effort went into solving the engineering peculiarities inherent in putting them up on a forested mountain in NEPA than on a flat, stone-free field somewhere in the Midwest. It wouldn't be my first choice for a site.
