Six wind turbines stand atop Pillar Mountain, overlooking the city of Kodiak. Normally, they generate about 10% of the island’s electricity. But two are not functioning properly and the Kodiak Electric Association estimates they won’t be repaired for several weeks to months.
This is not expected to increase the cost of residents’ utility bills according to the association’s leadership.
Dan Menth, the member-owned electric utility cooperative’s president and CEO, said the two turbines stopped turning several weeks ago for separate mechanical reasons. The northernmost turbine has a bad blade bearing that failed prematurely after moisture got into it.
“It’ll still yaw, and move back and forth, it’ll be energizing," he explained. "And G.E., the manufacturer, has assured us it’s OK. It’s not going to incur damage by sitting there.”
Kodiak doesn’t have a crane big enough to reach and fix that turbine. Menth said it’s unlikely one could be barged over from Anchorage and the right parts lined up for repairs before the summer construction season is over.
“On the other end, (turbine) number 1, that has a bad pitch drive. And that was a routine maintenance item that, unfortunately, due to weather last summer, wasn’t able to be replaced. And sure enough, one of them failed," Menth said.
He estimates it could be fixed within the next few weeks in early April.
Each turbine on Pillar generates up to 1.5 megawatts of electricity. When all six are going, that’s enough to power roughly 450 Kodiak homes according to Kodiak Electric Association, based on 8,300 kwh consumed per year by KEA’s residential service that has 4,770 customers roughly.
For all of last year, Menth said the six turbines generated just over 26 million kilowatt-hours, which he said is a phenomenal year.
To compensate for lost wind power this year, Menth said the association will feed more water from Terror Lake to its hydropower power plant. Right now, as of March 13], the lake is nearly full.
“The lake level at Terror Lake, as of this morning [March 12] was about 1,408 and it spills at 1,420. So this is the best lake level that we’ve had at this time of year for many, many years, maybe ever," Menth said.
Typically the hydroelectric turbines at Terror Lake generate roughly 85% of Kodiak’s energy. Wind turbines on Pillar usually supply the rest. Diesel generators are used as back-ups.
Editor's Note: This story was updated to include local information on the amount of customers and homes KEA's wind turbines can generate power for rather than using national data.
