General

Bayonne Gets New Wind Turbine-FIRST OF ITS KIND IN NEW YORK-NORTHERN NEW JERSEY METROPOLITAIN AREA

Wind turbine to be fully operational in by the end of March 2012.

Bayonne Wind Turbine Fact Sheet  (Photos to come )

Photo by Steveamack.com Bayonne's New Turbine Windmill

The wind turbine has a power of 1.5 megawatts. The tower is 262 feet tall. The blades are 252 feet in diameter. Due to its height, the wind turbine project will be visible from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan and other places in the metropolitan area.

The wind turbine was manufactured by LEITWIND, an Austrian company, and supplied by its Colorado-based sister company, Leitner-Poma of America. This wind turbine is the first of its kind in the New York-Northern New Jersey metropolitan area and is expected to be fully operational in by the end of March 2012.

The wind generator is a Leitwind (LTW) 77, an advanced direct-drive wind turbine that does not rely on a gearbox to turn the electric generator, which will reduce the frequency of maintenance. The LTW 77 uses an innovative, patented generator with permanent magnets and an especially developed and optimized control system. Many components were manufactured in several locations in the United States. The rotor blades were made in North Dakota; the tower, in Tennessee; all of the major high voltage equipment (transformers, switchgear and control), were sourced from Colorado, Michigan, and New York. The concrete and steel used in the massive foundation were made by New Jersey-based companies.

Energy from the Leitwind Turbine will be used to power the Authority’s six 250-horsepower Horsepower pumps at its Oak Street pumping station and four150-horsepower pumps at its 5th Street storm relief pumping station. The main Oak Street station is in continuous operation 24 hours a day. On a normal dry day, the station pumps at the rate of 8 million gallons per day (MGD) sending the sanitary wastewater to the Passaic Valley Sewage Commissioners’ Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility in Newark. The greatest demand for electricity occurs during storms when the Oak Street station pumps pump the combined sanitary/storm wastewater at the rate of 40 MGD.

The project was funded in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic growth legislation initiated by President Obama. This is the best possible payback for the investments made in the project by the MUA.