Teo, an innovative telecommunications company and Bergelectric Corp. a national electrical engineering contractor announced a partnership agreement for the provision of communications services to wind farm operators.

According to official sources initial deployment has started at two sites and they have already proved their capability in improving safety and enhancing productivity of maintenance personnel.

The location of wind turbines and the remoteness of most sites have hampered communication. The new partnership between Teo and Bergelectric will serve to outfit each wind turbine with Internet access as well as a telephone equipped with Enhanced 911 or E911 technology.

Teo specializes in providing mission-critical voice communications and will be providing the phones, industrial switches, unified communications platform and other equipment. Bergelectric will design and install the fiber connections and equipment. The resulting comprehensive system will provide voice and data communications to each turbine as well as between disparate turbines, confirmed Teo sources.

In a release Jason Hayes of Bergelectric said, “There is a definite need for creative and thorough communications capabilities for wind turbines. Bergelectric was eager to design and install a system that makes wind energy operations more efficient, cost-effective and safe for everyone who works with them.”

“By equipping the top of each turbine with an E911-enabled phone and IP connection points for various devices such as computers, cameras and sensors, we’re not only increasing safety for maintenance personnel, we’re also enabling them to become more efficient – they can now access electronic work instructions, contact technical support, access manuals and diagrams and operate SCADA from the top of the turbine, eliminating the time-consuming up-and-down process or the need to utilize a radio-to-phone middleman,” Hayes added.

The first projects to be served by the partnership will be to deliver complete communications capabilities to the Harvest Wind Project and White Creek Wind I in Roosevelt, WA. These two wind energy projects have 132 Siemens (News - Alert) 2.3 MW turbines put together.

John Toomajon, vice president of Teo Services, Teo’s exclusive reseller and systems integration partner explained that the flexibility of Teo’s communications platform enables the provision of customized solutions for various types of businesses in different markets. The company strives to support environmentally friendly wind-energy projects by ensuring that workers are both safe and efficient when maintaining the turbines.