Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 11.9
A 50 kW Vind-Syssel wind turbine in Skåne, Sweden (Photo:
Väsk).
On my first trip to California, I met Steven Smiley from Michigan.
Later he agreed to represent Vind-Syssel in the United States, and
especially California, which mainly was to introduce Vind-Syssel
and our technology to the California developers, and locating
projects where we could supply our WTGs.
Travelling with Steven in California in the mid-80s, sometimes
by air, and sometimes by Greyhound, but mainly by car, was an
experience. This was before mobile phones took over, so one of the
great eforts was stopping at payphones on the road for confirming
our appointments. We were visiting wind farms, developers, banks,
lawyers, authorities, etc., even Indian chiefs, who ofered land,
and everybody had dollars in their eyes when talking about wind
energy. The projects were mainly concentrated in three locations,
Palm Springs and Tehachapi delivering power for Los Angeles;
and Altamont, sending power to San Francisco.
We targeted two interesting projects, one at Tehachapi,
California, and one at Maui, Hawaii. Both projects were supposed
to be based on the “sales and lease back” idea, meaning that we
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