U.S. Army instructor tours PrairieWinds 1

Mark Loats (left), Basin Electric operations maintenance supervisor, visits with Keith Ritz (right) in the collector substation at PrairieWinds 1.

Keith Ritz, U.S. Army instructor at Prime Power School, located at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, traveled home recently to North Dakota to visit family and made a special stop along the way.

Erin Huntimer, Basin Electric project coordinations representative, met with Ritz Sept. 8 to give him a tour of PrairieWinds 1. “He asked to visit the facility so he could gather information about the generating resource and its operation for his soldiers at Prime Power School, and to snap some photos to share with them,” Huntimer says.

The school is a year-long course that trains soldiers in power generation and distribution. Graduates are deployed domestically and worldwide to assist in restoring power after natural disasters and war. Ritz says wind generation is not typically encountered by Prime Power School soldiers, but he feels it’s important to provide them a solid background in the technology.

“Thank you for visiting us, Keith, and thank you for your service to our country!” Huntimer says.

Loats (left) explains to Ritz the downtower assembly in the base of tower number 33. It’s the “brain” of the turbine.