Lincoln Electric continues work on its Kenersys wind turbine

See the day-by-day construction of the largest wind turbine in Ohio at Lincoln Electric in Euclid.

Beginning on a snowy day in March, Lincoln Electric and its contractors have taken just 13 weeks to erect one of the largest wind turbines in North America.

The global manufacturer of welding equipment began construction of the foundation  at it Euclid headquarters on March 13, a company web camera shows.

Over the following weeks, contractors poured 2.3 million pounds of reinforced concrete into the foundation.

The final installation of the blades happened early last week. But the massive turbine probably won't be operating full-time for three or four weeks as interior work and testing are completed.

Today, teams of electrical engineers are still busy inside the Nebraska-made turbine tower, preparing the wiring for the 2.5 million watts the big German-made generator will send through the tower to equipment on the ground once it is operating

Mechanical engineers meanwhile will continue to check and adjust the more than 500 bolts that must gradually be tightened to exact specifications.

Lincoln, a member of the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, is spending $4.5 million of its own money on the $5.9 million project in an effort to jump-start turbine manufacturing in Northeast Ohio.

Kenersys Gmbh, the German turbine company owned by a multi-billion Indian industrial conglomerate and a U.S. equity investment company, wants to put a U.S. subsidiary in the Midwest, preferably where no other European turbine companies have already located.

Kenersys is considering Ohio and Michigan. But the company will need orders in order to justify construction of a factory here. The company's business plan is to start with four orders this year, 20 next year and 30 the following year.

In five years, Kenersys projects a U.S. headquarters employing 160, including about 60 production workers.