11 June 2008

Mystery solved

Well, in part, maybe.

Once we turned right (north) on I-29 yesterday we began noticing trucks travelling south transporting long, white, sculpted objects, round at one end and pointed at the other. The first trucks carried two nestled together. Subsequent trailors carried a single object, these being considerably longer than the ones two to a trailer. Each truck had two escort vehicles. We puzzled. More trucks. Parts for an abstract public monument? More trucks.

Then, late in the day at an abandoned rest stop, we saw three north-bound trucks stopped, their drivers conversing. And, on each trailer? A single, long, while sculped object. The tip of each one broken. Then, it hit me. Wind turbine blades. It had to be.

Today, we saw only two. And, as we were setting into our room here in Grand Forks we saw a third from our window, two escort vehicles and a truck entering I-29 at Exit 138.

After supper I began poking around on line and found Navitas Energy in Minneapolis, a player in windpower development. Close but not quite what I was looking for; they wouldn't account for trucks on I-29. LM Glasfiber, a Danish company, also came up in windpower technology. Denmark? After finding a map on their website I clicked on a bullet in the upper part of the United States and this was the annotation that popped up: Blade factory and administration in Grand Forks ND since 1998.

Mystery solved. Someone to the south is building a wind farm.

Now, I wonder who ...

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