BELARE 2006/2007: First wind turbine erected on the Utsteinen nunatak

For two days, harsh wind conditions were slowing down work on the wind turbines. Yesterday, good news came from the front: the BELARE team probably had the best weather of the whole expedition with clear skies and no wind. Vincent, Bernard and Johan worked hard and were able to erect the first wind turbine late in the afternoon.

Later in the evening, with the wind picking up, the brakes were released and the turbine slowly started to spin, progressively reaching a pretty impressive rhythm. With no electricty load behind it yet, it was really pretty fast !

Here we are, the first facility of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctic Station is up and running ! The whole team even felt a bit emotional after the effort, realising that, soon enough, they will be producing clean energy out of this magnificent environment.