It was nearly one o' clock in the morning before a crew of about 20 volunteer engineers and contractors finished securing the second section of a 125-foot tower that will monitor wind over Lake Erie. Project manager Aaron Godwin of the non-profit group Green Energy Ohio says it took three tries to line up the second half of the 6,000-pound tower and bolt it onto the existing section, with five people climbing up the pole. Both parts of the tower were transported to the Cleveland water crib by helicopter. Godwin says the equipment already hooked up to measure wind speed and wind sheer will be getting a workout over the next few days.
Aaron Godwin: The irony is we're fighting a hurricane that's 2,000 miles away here in Cleveland and the whole project's about wind. Are the winds going to be viable to let people consider the idea of putting these turbines out there?
Godwin says it will be a couple of weeks before all the new instruments on the tower are hard-wired and the information starts coming ashore via wireless computer.