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Energy prices are high and getting higher all the time.
Demand for energy is ever growing and availability declines daily.
As time goes on fossil fuel supplies are continually depleted and not being replenished. Some day in the future the
vast supplies of this precious resource will be gone and we will be
forced to turn to other sources for energy or return to the stone
age.
 In addition to the problem of
depleting resources, we are faced with the reality of the by
products of fossil fuel consumption.
Pollution, smog and increasing levels of carbon dioxide are released
into the atmosphere. The importance of developing clean
renewable energy is escalating in proportion to the growing need for
energy and clean air.
One such source for clean
renewable energy is wind. Turbine generators which are driven
by wind energy
are being built where there
is a sufficient supply to drive them economically.
One such area is near Lawton, Oklahoma in an area locally called
the Slick Hills. The project is called Blue Canyon Wind Farm
Phase Five. Phase one and two are currently finished and have
been in operation for some time now. Construction on Phase
Five began in early summer of 2009 and is expected to be completed
sometime late the same year.
The wind turbines are
manufactured by General Electric. Each turbine has a 1.5 megawatt
capacity at full output and will produce enough power to light
roughly 500 homes. More information on these turbines can be found
at General Electric's web site. Phase five will see the
construction of 66 of these towers. The project is owned by
Horizon Energy and the General Contractor is White Construction
Company.
All of the wind turbines on
this project were
constructed in areas where
rock had to be excavated for
the foundations. There
were two different types of
foundations utilized for
this project. In areas
of competent rock, 19'
diameter sockets, 20' deep
were used. In areas of
less competent material,
large spread footings were
constructed as bases to
support the towers.
But before any wind turbines
can be constructed, there
must be suitable roads for
getting the large equipment
necessary to erect these
towers in each of their
locations. This
project had over 19 miles of
road in order to access all
sixty six tower sites.
The road building crews were
the first ones to work on
the construction process of
the project.
 D8 Caterpillar Dozers
began scraping roadways into
the landscape. The
wind generators were
constructed on the highest
areas of the Slick Hills
where there was little to no
dirt on top of solid rock.
The high spots had to be
blasted off for use to fill
the low spots thus building
roads at a grade which was
suitable for the massive
cranes and other
construction equipment which
would be driven to each
site.
 The construction process
started as soon as roads
suitable for access were
ready. Close on the
heels of the dozers,
graders, compactors,
excavators, haul trucks and
blasters were the excavating
crews responsible for
digging the foundations out
for the towers. All of
these foundations had to be
drilled and blasted before
they could be excavated.
The blasting of these
foundations was accomplished
concurrent with the road
building process. As
soon as the roads were
suitable for blasting crew
access, the foundations were
drilled and shot.
As soon as the
foundations were excavated,
the rebar crews moved in and
started building the large
reinforcing cages for the
concrete foundations.
Soon afterwards, the
concrete was poured for the
foundations. The
demand for concrete was so
great that two concrete
batch plants were erected
onsite to meet the demand.
While the concrete was
being poured, tower sections
and generator components
were being moved to each
location ahead of time.
As soon as the concrete
foundations had cured enough
to support the load of the
towers, the erection process
for those began. The
first erection crew
assembled the blades onto
the central hub, set the
generator nacelle into place
and erected the bottom two
of three tower sections onto
the foundations.
The second tower
construction crew then came
with a 450 ton crawler crane
and erected the top section
of the tower, placed the
generator nacelle and hung
the rotor with the blades
attached in a single unit.
While this was all taking
place, the electrical
contractors were hooking up
the transformers and other
electrical components and
building the gathering
system which would carry all
of the generated electricity
to a single sub-station
where it would then be sent
out for public sale and
consumption.
All of these operations
started and were in full
progress before the blasting
and road construction was
finished. This project
required a remarkable
feat of coordination to keep
all of the necessary crafts
moving efficiently and
without interruption.
All of this activity and
construction traffic was
taking place on a single one
lane road about 25' wide.
White Construction Company,
Inc. was in charge of
coordinating all phases of
the project.
From start to finish the
blasting for all of the
roads and all foundations
was accomplished within the
required timeframe.
The first blast on the first
road was on May 21, 2009.
The last blast on the last
foundation was on July 29th,
2009. The last road
shot was on August 4th.
A total of 66 foundations
and 286,000 square feet of
roadway had been drilled and
shot in about 9 weeks.
Dykon Blasting thanks
White Construction Company
for the opportunity to work
with them on this project.
We appreciated their trust,
cooperation and dedication
to the successful completion
of this project.
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