By Sarah Doty

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

If you're looking beyond the horizon for another indicator of the busy turbine construction process, check with the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

With loads sometimes weighing more than 200,000 pounds and exceeding 180 feet, turbine components do anything but blend into regular traffic. So they need MnDOT permits.

In order to get to their destination, wind turbines have become a common sight on our Minnesota roadways in the past few years, and Ted Coulianos, the oversize/overweight permit supervisor for the MnDOT, predicts that it won't slow any time soon.

"We saw a big jump this past year (in wind permits issued)," he said. "But we have seen a steady increase in the past two years. Last summer was the busiest, and we have heard talk about this year being busier yet."

In 2008, MnDOT issued nearly 5,000 wind energy permits, with the most issued between July (758) and October (1,226). A total of 3,503 permits were issued in 2007.

While the number of Oversize/Overweight Permits issued for wind only made up about 7 percent of the total permits issued in 2008, Coulianos said that 25 percent of his team's time and resources were spent trying to find routes for them.

"A lot of work is involved in moving these things and the volume is such that it does keep you busy," Coulianos said.

That might partly be because it takes anywhere between nine and 12 oversized truckloads to ship one turbine. That means for the two farms with 132 turbines assembled last year just outside Dexter -- the Grand Meadow Wind Farm and the Wapsipinicon Wind Project -- there were between 1,206 and 1,608 oversized truckloads for the turbine parts alone.

"That's a lot of freight," Coulianos said. "I think it's kind of cool, but that's my business."

Turbine traffic

While southeastern Minnesota has seen its share of traffic on Interstate 35 headed south from the Twin Cities and on Interstate 90 from Albert Lea toward Wisconsin, Coulianos said the entire state has seen a lot of turbine traffic.

"We have a blade plant in Pipestone (Minn.) that has been putting out more and more blades into Iowa and South Dakota," Coulianos said.

"Duluth was bringing in a lot of freight and it was going into Iowa and North Dakota, and there is a Fargo, N.D., plant that comes across the state. It's all over, but I think the heaviest traffic has been from Duluth and Pipestone, south."

Twenty-two percent of the wind permits are transporting parts from Duluth.

Changing industry

Not just any truck can load up a turbine blade or tower section.

The trucks are specifically made so that they can handle the weight and massive size of the parts, along with distributing the weight properly on the road.

Because of that, few trucking companies in Minnesota have the equipment to move the towers, but Coulianos said that is quickly changing.

"We started last year issuing permits to about 50 different carriers," he said. "But then, toward the end of the year we were issuing permits to over 150 carriers, a lot from out of state, new ones. I wouldn't be surprised if that number soon doubles. This thing has grown instantly. There is no other industry that has grown so fast."

Today's economy might also change the trucking schedule, Coulianos said.

"They are having a later start because of the downturn," Coulianos said. "Still, even with that, the expectation is that we will still eke out a pretty busy year."

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