Work on the Fire Island wind farm shut down during and after the storm, but the turbines didn't suffer any damage, said Jim Jager, spokesman for the developer, Cook Inlet Region Inc.

"We shut the operation down so we wouldn't take the chance of stranding workers on the island," Jager said.

The project is in the testing phase, and crews lost three days due to the storm and dealing with the aftermath of downed trees, he said.

All 11 wind turbines have been erected, and all were locked down during the wind storm so the blades didn't spin. During normal operations, the system is designed so the blades feather, or change position, to slow down when the sustained wind speed hits roughly 42 mph, and to lock down altogether at wind speeds topping 55 mph. That is to avoid damaging the equipment from excessive vibrations at high speeds, he said.

This week, with the wind farm still in set-up and testing mode, the automatic shut-down system didn't have to kick in.

Crews have been clearing away downed trees. None of the turbines suffered damage, he said.

The wind farm began generating minimal power Aug. 30 with turbines already tested. CIRI expects to have all the turbines commissioned and generating power for Anchorage within about two weeks, Jager said.

"The impact the wind storm had on our project is about the same it had everywhere else in Anchorage," Jager said. "It delayed us for three days but it didn't really do significant harm to the project, other than some blown-down trees."

Reach Lisa Demer at ldemer@adn.com or 257-4390.