Clipper Windpower, a California-based wind turbine manufacturer, is in deep trouble with its top-of-the-line, 2.5-MW Liberty machine, which is experiencing quality control and apparent design problems, and with the company's financial performance. The 20-MW Steel Winds wind farm in upstate New York, using eight of the Liberty turbines, has been shut down because of gearbox problems in the turbines, according to The Buffalo News. The local newspaper reported that all eight turbines are suffering from what is described as a manufacturing problem and repairing the problem will require several months. ...Several Clipper projects in 2007, said the Reuters report, were "loss making." POWER named Steel Winds one of its top renewable projects in the December 2007 issue, highlighting the unique approach the turbines use in their gearboxes to cope with the enormous torque of turbine blades longer than the wing of a Boeing 747 airplane.

Clipper Windpower, a California-based wind turbine manufacturer, is in deep trouble with its top-of-the-line, 2.5-MW Liberty machine, which is experiencing quality control and apparent design problems, and with the company's financial performance.

The 20-MW Steel Winds wind farm in upstate New York, using eight of the Liberty turbines, has been shut down because of gearbox problems in the turbines, according to The Buffalo News. The local newspaper reported that all eight turbines are suffering from what is described as a manufacturing problem and repairing the problem will require several months.

The Steel Winds project, on a former Bethlehem Steel site that is also a listed Superfund toxic waste site, is the first to use the 2.5-MW machines. According to a company news release, the eight wind turbines rolled off the company's assembly line in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in late 2006, and went into service at the site on Lake Erie in April 2007.

The newspaper said the owners of the project - UPC Wind and BQ Energy - first noticed the problems with the wind machines in August. The paper reported, "Engineers quickly discovered that a tooth on one of the four gears in the box had broken." Inspections found the problem on all of the turbines on the site.

According to the paper, Liberty turbines at projects in Iowa and Minnesota have the same problem and will require repairs. SNL Financial, a trade news service, reported that 50 Liberty turbines will require repair.

The Steel Wind turbines are all under warranty, according to a UPC Wind official, so Clipper will bear the costs of repair.

In the meantime, Reuters late last year reported that Clipper warned that the company may report a loss for 2007, and that "only a small portion of output" from 2007 would contribute to revenue. A company spokesman told the news service that while it made 125 turbines in 2007, only eight will produce revenue for the company. Whether those eight are the Steel Wind machines was not clear.

Several Clipper projects in 2007, said the Reuters report, were "loss making."

POWER named Steel Winds one of its top renewable projects in the December 2007 issue, highlighting the unique approach the turbines use in their gearboxes to cope with the enormous torque of turbine blades longer than the wing of a Boeing 747 airplane.

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