By Barry Eberling | DAILY REPUBLIC | March 30, 2009
Mike Seaverson, a windsmith for Enxco, shuts down a turbine at the Shiloh II Wind Project so that he and other technicians can operate on the machine. The Solano County wind season traditionally kicks into high gear on April 1, so technicians are doing maintenance on turbines in preparation for the season. Photo by Chris Jordan
FAIRFIELD - It ranks among the more strenuous journeys to replace a light.
There's more than 200 rungs to climb along an aluminum ladder inside the mammoth wind turbines that dot the Montezuma Hills. At the top of the hollow, metal tower a hatch leads to the outside and to the red, flashing lights that warn planes.
But even if the climb is long the view from the top of a turbine is exhilarating. Sheep and horses might be rambling along the green fields 270 feet below. A clear day reveals the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east and Suisun Bay to the south.
'It's the best,' said Anthony Perales, who is among the growing number of green-energy workers who call themselves windsmiths.
Windsmiths care for turbines. Perales works for the wind company called enXco, which recently opened the Shiloh II wind farm in eastern Solano County. The 75 turbines there must be adjusted during their break-in period and will then require maintenance to keep generating enough combined electricity for 74,000 homes.
Perales starts a typical day by climbing the ladder inside a turbine. He can make it to the top fairly quickly, though he's never timed himself.
'Ten minutes tops -- unless you have someone who likes to take his break and doesn't push himself,' Perales said.
Then he spends hours slowly coming down, stopping on steel platforms and doing such things as tightening bolts. For the most part he remains inside the metal tower. At quitting time, Perales walks out the door at the tower's base and back into the sunlight.
It's unclear how many windsmiths there are in the wind industry. EnXco operations manager and Fairfield resident John Opris said there are hundreds, as opposed to the thousands of turbines they tend.
'It is an exclusive group,' said Opris, who has been in the wind industry for 21 years and still occasionally climbs a turbine.
Windsmiths often come from the construction industry or have a mechanical background. But, while there's no set resume, one thing they have in common is no fear of heights.
'You're up there in the air all the time,' Opris said. 'It's like being in the Air Force -- you have your wings.'
Windsmiths don't perform their high-wire acts without a net. They have safety harnesses that prevent falls. Plus, there are platforms inside the turbines every 60 feet or so on which they can stand.
Perales has been in the windsmith fraternity for only a few months. He had worked in the construction industry, lost his job amid a faltering economy, then worked for a Ford dealership in Livermore rising to the position of detail manager before getting laid off.
He had no job, a family and bills to pay.
'That was when everything was really bad -- gas prices were high. We had car payments . . .' he said.
He'd never heard of a windsmith, much less had a childhood dream of becoming one. A friend in the industry told him about the enXco job. Perales now has a new career in a profession he never knew existed.
He's trim and fit and used to such ventures as rock climbing. Still, he laughed when recalling the day following his first climb up a turbine.
'I couldn't really bend down,' he said.
Windsmiths can get some help for their long climbs. A device called Climb Assistance connects to their safety harnesses and uses a motor to tug on them as they scale the ladders. When the windsmith stops moving, the tug also stops.
Perales and the other windsmiths at the Shiloh II farm will have to wait for this lift, however. The Climb Assistance devices for the new Shiloh II turbines are still in their boxes. The priority for the new turbines is providing power for the Pacific Gas & Electric grid.
'Generate green energy -- we'll deal with creature comforts later,' Opris said.
Opris worked at a local sheet metal company more than two decades ago and never gave a thought to becoming a windsmith. Then he saw an advertisement for the post in the mid-1980s and decided to give it a try.
He worked at the Altamont wind area, back when the turbines were half the size and consisted of metal towers that looked like something from an Erector set. Windsmiths back then spent their day outside, exposed to the elements as they scaled the towers and did their work.
The wind world has changed. Today's sleek, white turbines provide more power than the earlier models and make life a lot easier for windsmiths. EnXco would like to build even more in the Montezuma Hills, provided issues concerning the radar at Travis Air Force Base can be worked out.
EnXco Southwest Region Director Mark Tholke on a recent day stood amid green hills dotted with his company's huge, white turbines.
'Not only is this a beautiful wind resource area, it's one of the last in California,' Tholke said.
Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 ext. 232 or beberling@dailyrepublic.net.
