PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The University of Maine Presque Isle’s wind turbine is again generating electricity after an equipment failure hit the 7-year-old tower.
In November, a bearing in the main turbine drive failed and damaged the generator of the 600 kilowatt, 295-foot-tall turbine, the university said.
UMPI was covered by insurance for the event, and in mid-January, a new generator was installed to get the turbine running again by Monday Jan. 18, said community relations director Rachel Rice.
Since its installation in 2009, as Maine’s first college-based wind turbine, the $2 million turbine has produced 3.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity, representing almost a quarter of the university’s electricity use.
The turbine has encountered some mechanical issues in the past, but has still saved the campus about $427,000 in power costs since it was installed, Rice said.
