NUTTBY - A few metres off the ground, the massive blades begin to wobble and teeter ever so slightly as a gust of wind nudges itself across the top of the mountain.
They settle and steady, then slowly continue to lift, higher, ever higher.
"This is one, only 21 left," a relieved Allison Leil comments shortly after, as the wind turbine blades and hub reach their destination, where they will be connected to the front of the tower's generator.
"I feel great," the vice-president of A.W. Leil Cranes & Equipment said. "It's very meaningful to get the first one done for Nova Scotia Power."
It was a common sentiment from the workers on site, given that the first turbine lift of the 22-tower wind farm had gone off without a hitch, after having already been rescheduled a couple of times.
"It looks like it might be waylaid," site project manager Debra McLellan had commented to a colleague a short while earlier, when the wind had started to gust a bit too heartily for comfort.
But the mountain breezes subsided in time and the 40-tonne lift ultimately appeared to go as smooth as possible, especially given the weight and the 77 metres the blades had to rise to be put in place.
"It seemed like the lift was really smooth. I expected, especially when we had a few small gusts, that we would see some movement on the complete piece but it was a very controlled lift. It went very well," McLellan said.
"It's pretty exciting to see the first rotor hub, with blades attached, being assembled for our first machine," she said. "It's one step closer to getting our renewable energy target up in the province and, for this farm in particular, it's one step closer to completion."
All but two of the 22 foundations have now been completed and with two teams on site to deal with the final assemblies, the remaining towers should go up at a rate of about two per week.
"Basically as the turbines get completely installed, then we move into commissioning activities," McLellan said.
And, if things remain on schedule, at least a couple of turbines should be operational by the end of September, with the entire wind farm set to be up and running by year's end.
At that point, the turbines should be generating enough energy to power about 15,000 homes per year.
