“The turbine ran until March 26 when it threw a blade at 3.10 am. During this time it generated 61,780 kWh in 143 hours of operation.[1]
“Operation began on 19 October 1941. For the first time ever, power from the wind was being fed synchronously into the lines of a utility system. In the following 17 months, the Smith-Putnam wind turbine generated about 300 MWh with 695 h on-line.”[2] (Nielsen 2010:189)
“Durant un vent exceptionnel d’une dure:e de 3 semaines, qui devait preceder une avarie survenue a une pale (avaiie qui entraina I’arret de l’installation le 26 mars 1945), la Centrale de GRANDPA’S, debitant sur le reseau, produisit 143 heures 81.780 kw-h, depassant ainsi largement le rendement escompte.”[3] (Lanoy, 1946, p. 106)
“It operated for approximately 16 months, producing 298,240 kWh in 695 hours of on-line production.”[4]
“Thus, at the time of the accident, the unit had operated 838 hours on the line for power generation and 192 hours off ,the line for testing and had generated a total of 360,000 kwhr, an average load of 430 kw.”[5]
[1] Palmer Cosslet Putnam, Power from the Wind, Reprinted 1974 (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1948). Page 131.
[2] Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen, “Technological Trajectories in the Making: Two Case Studies from the Contemporary History of Wind Power,” Centaurus 52, no. 3 (2010): 175–205, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0498.2010.00179.x. Page 189. Nielsen used the 1945 article in Power magazine as a reference.
[3] Henry Lanoy, “Les centrales eoliennes americaines de grande puissance: 1.000 kw et 1.500 kw” (Congrès du Vent, Carcassone, France, 1946), 105–8. Page 106.c
[4] Robert Righter, Wind Energy in America: A History (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996), http://www.wind-works.org/cms/index.php?id=625&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=446&cHash=41e2fb2449a77fab62ff8a7d08b24594. Page 131. Righter cites a 1945 reference to Power magazine.
[5] Palmer Cosslet Putnam, “Wind-Turbine Power Plant Will Be Rebuilt,” Power, June 1945. Pages 67-68.
