Sunday 20 February 2011

A little breezy, but the view is sensational

Daily Telegraph
14 February 2011, Page: 7

THE view isn't bad from Phil Lewis's office but it gets a bit windy every now and then. It's just as well, really, or he'd probably be out of a job. As a technician on the largest wind farm in NSW, Mr Lewis regularly scales 80m wind turbines and dangles precariously over the edge to reach the front nose cone.

Luckily for him the giant 44m turbine blades don't move during his work, but there's not much he can do to stop the wind blowing as he goes about his work. Photographer Stephen Cooper, who snapped Mr Lewis on the job, said the view from the top was "awesome". "The day before had been 40C and really windy and the farm was running at capacity, but the wind dropped off before we went up", he said.

'At one stage I looked down and thought, 'Mental note don't look down again' but looking straight out was fine". Technicians check and service the turbines much like a mechanic would a car. Infigen Energy's Capital Wind Farm at Bungendore, near Canberra, comprises 67 turbines spread across 35km².

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