Enron Mail

From:benjamin.bell@enron.com
To:michael@zilkha.com
Subject:Re: FW: GEWE reporting and follow-up
Cc:steven.zwolinski@ps.ge.com, colleen.repplier@ps.ge.com, joe@zilkha.com,mskelly@zilkha.com, rwinsor@zilkha.com, dan.lindquist@enron.com, jeff.maurer@enron.com, kurt.anderson@enron.com, joe.thorpe@enron.com, hollis.kimbrough@enron.com, mark.fisher@enron
Bcc:steven.zwolinski@ps.ge.com, colleen.repplier@ps.ge.com, joe@zilkha.com,mskelly@zilkha.com, rwinsor@zilkha.com, dan.lindquist@enron.com, jeff.maurer@enron.com, kurt.anderson@enron.com, joe.thorpe@enron.com, hollis.kimbrough@enron.com, mark.fisher@enron
Date:Mon, 27 May 2002 10:17:00 -0700 (PDT)

Dear Michael,

We, too, enjoyed the opportunity to meet with you last Thursday and
appreciate the candid feedback you and Michael were able to give us regarding
the PA projects. We are currently investigating your and Mr. Winsor's issues
regarding availability, noise, blades, electronic faults, and cold weather
faults. I suggest we schedule a conference call with our Operations team and
Mr. Winsor this week to clarify and resolve any issues you may have. We
appreciate your business, and look forward to serving you better in the
future.

Best regards,
Benjamin Bell
GE Wind Energy
661-823-6827





Michael@zilkha.com on 05/23/2002 11:40:05 AM
To: steven.zwolinski@ps.ge.com, colleen.repplier@ps.ge.com,
benjamin.bell@ps.ge.com
cc: Joe@zilkha.com, mskelly@zilkha.com, rwinsor@zilkha.com

Subject: FW: GEWE reporting and follow-up



I wanted to thank all three of you for coming to meet with us this morning.
It is very exciting to have GE in this business. I am forwarding the
following e-mail since I thought you would want to know what the feelings
currently are in the trenches at Zilkha in terms of the PA projects. The
projects were commissioned six months ago so I can understand the frustration.

We look forward to seeing you at AWEA and to a long and fruitful relationship.

With best wishes,

Michael

< -----Original Message-----
< From: Rick Winsor
< Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 1:15 PM
< To: Michael Zilkha
< Cc: Michael Skelly
< Subject: GEWE reporting and follow-up
<
< Michael,
<
< I spoke with Michael Skelly about your meeting this morning with GEWE and
he suggested that I might give you something specific on certain GEWE issues.
<
< We are drafting a formal letter to GEWE to express our concerns with their
overstating of availability and general unresponsiveness to issues. In our
view their performance is unacceptable.
<
< Along those lines, attached is an analysis of availability for the January
- March period for both Mill Run (10 machines) and Somerset (6 machines). The
attachment shows in the second last column the GEWE reported availability and
in the third last column an availability number we determined after
significant data analysis. We believe that GEWE overstates their
availability numbers by up to 4%. We have shared this information with GEWE
personnel but they quite frankly just shrug off our inquiries.
<
< Issues on noise, blade failures, electronic failures, cold weather faults,
etc. are not at all adequately responded to by GEWE and we will be
reiterating in our letter this concern.
<
< Also attached is an e-mail of today regarding Gary's observations on GEWE's
April reports.
<
< Have a safe trip home.
<
< regards
<
< rick
<
<
<
< < <<Mill Run & Somerset Monthly reports<< < < <<Availability.zip<<
<
<
<
<
< Rick Winsor
< Zilkha Renewable Energy
< 1001 McKinney, Suite 1740
< Houston, TX 77002
<
< rwinsor@zilkha.com
< www.zilkha.com
< Telephone 713-571-6640
< Direct 713-265-0244
< Fax 713-571-6659
< e-fax 253-541-8837
< Cellular 713-870-5504
<

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Subject: Mill Run & Somerset Monthly reports
Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 11:03:58 -0500
Message-ID: <C4F6659E22D8194B925933CC808802540FC15D@server4.zilkha.com<
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Thread-Topic: Mill Run & Somerset Monthly reports
Thread-Index: AcICc2zvlTjbDznqRMKWdw4R6bKDng==
From: "Gary Verkleeren" <GVerkleeren@zilkha.com<
To: <kurt.anderson@ps.ge.com<
Cc: "Rick Winsor" <rwinsor@zilkha.com<, "Mark Haller" <mhaller@zilkha.com<,
<joseph.thorpe@ps.ge.com<

Kurt,

I have a few questions relating to the Monthly Reports prepared for the Mill
Run and Somerset Wind Farms. They are as follows:

* On April 5th the Main Circuit Breaker located within the pad mounted
transformer on WTG#7 at Mill Run was torn apart and replaced by Marvin Blanco
(GE Turbine Tech.). In addition, on or about this same date IGBT's were
replaced within the same turbine. Nowhere in the Monthly report are these
issues mentioned, please explain?

* WTG#9 at Mill Run experienced downtime between 4-17-02 at 10:00 A.M. and
4-24-02 at 4:00 P.M. this equates to 7 days - 6 hrs. or 7.25 days. Assuming
WTG#7 operated fault free the entire month (its availability at 100%) except
for the above mentioned period of 7.25 days, the best possible availability
that could be realized would be (1-(7.25/30) x 100) = 75.8%.
Please explain how the availability of this turbine can be 78.6% as listed in
the Monthly Report?

* On 4-25-02 WTG#8 experienced several hours of repair time due to worn HV
cable which had been rubbing against the ladder rungs at the yaw deck level.
Apparently, the bundle of cables sways or moves during normal operation and
over an extended period it caused significant wear to the protective
coating/insulation. Why was this not mentioned? Are other turbines
experiencing this problem? Is there a retrofit being considered?

* On 4-28-02 a storm event with heavy winds rolled through the area.
Turbines #2, #3, and #8 at Mill Run all experienced faults requiring
component replacements. The Summary on individual turbine activity in the
monthly report does not reflect this, neither does the Consumption Log also
contained within the Monthly Report, please explain? In fact, WTG#8 required
a new rack of IGBT's as a result of this storm event and no mention is made
in the report to an IGBT replacement for this turbine. Furthermore, on
4-30-02 a new rack of IGBT's was installed in WTG#8 and they were blown upon
start up. IGBT's are major components, As a minimum I would expect the
monthly reports to include major component failures/replacements.

* I need clarification on what exactly Section 7. EXHIBITS is attempting to
demonstrate. Surely, this is not an attempt to list all faults that a
turbine experienced for the current month. How are you selecting the faults
you choose to include on the list? For example, WTG#4 lists one (1) fault
for the month and clearly that was not the case. As one example, check the
operational activity for WTG#4 on 4-22-02 where it experienced multiple
faults among them "Gearbox Oil Pressure Too Low."

We have to have a better account of the operational history of these wind
farms through GE Wind Monthly Reports. I understand that the company as a
whole has been consumed with many other tasks relating to the recent
acquisition and that your attention has been elsewhere. Nevertheless, we
need to work together in order to improve the accuracy and attention to
important details that is lacking within these reports.

I look forward to working with you and Joe to make these projects better and
more accountable.

Best Regards,

Gary


Gary Verkleeren
Zilkha Renewable Energy
68 Braddock Drive
Ohiopyle, PA 15470

Office: 724 434-1542
Mobile: 724 554-0924
Fax: 724 434-1543


- Availability.zip