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April 17, 2011

Wind turbines in county assigned E-911 addresses

Jessica Lane The Express-Star

— What could possibly go wrong working with a structure that is 375 ft tall with 270 ft blades?

George Manning, E-911 Coordinator for the Grady County Sheriff’s Office, said that there are a number of potential emergencies.

A worker could climb inside the turbine and fall, there could be a grass fire, breakage could occur within the structure, implosion, etc. Other emergencies could occur that are not related to the wind farm, such as personal injuries.

“We plan for every emergency,” Manning said.

Each turbine is physically marked, both on the gate and on the turbine itself. The acronym “WTG” is used, which stands for wind turbine generator. The acronym is followed by a space and then the number of the turbine, WTG 20 for example.

According to George Manning, each wind turbine will have its own GPS and address corresponding to the WTG number.

In the case of an emergency, the WTG number can be given to dispatch.

The address is then pulled up on the computer system and emergency services will know the coordinates and exact location to send help, said Dale Thompson, Emergency Management and Department Fire Chief.

In the case of a high angle emergency, Thompson said that Grady County would seek outside help, likely from Oklahoma City.

This is because it is not practical for Grady County to purchase and maintain the equipment because incidents are rare and the equipment is expensive to buy and maintain.

Cody Crawford, technician at Nextera Energy in Minco, said the installation has been completed as of early March. The emergency system installation began during construction.

“This is something Nextera Energy is doing across the nation,” Crawford said. So far, Nextera in Minco has not had to use the emergency system, according to Crawford. About 62 turbines were built during Phase 1. During the upcoming Phase 2, about 62 more turbines will be erected, he said.

According to Steve Stangle, of Nextera’s News Media Inquiry line, Nextera is a wholesale provider which sells the energy to a third party, in the case of Minco, the Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO). The energy is then sold to municipalities and then to retail customers.

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