A Second Wind Turbine Taken Down in Willmar

The second of Willmar’s two wind turbines was taken down by demoltion workers on Friday afternoon.  On Thursday morning, crews from Veit Construction wired both towers with explosives and ignited them.  The south tower came down, but the north tower remained standing.

Kevin Marti said some of the explosives did not go off because of faulty blasting caps, so the contractor reportedly made an overnight trip to Missouri and got some more.  At 2:18 p.m. Friday the north tower came down about 8 seconds after a successful blast.
 
Willmar Municipal Utilities General Manager Jeron Smith says the bid from Veit to take down the towers was less than half of what they had budgeted. The steel from the towers and the fiberglass blades will be recycled along with whatever they can salvage from the wind turbine machinery.  Later, the concrete pads will be broken up and removed, and the land will be returned to the Willmar School District.