An entire fleet of around 100 'urban' wind turbines has been remotely shut down by manufacturer Quiet Revolution after the discovery of a design fault. The fleet of QR5 turbines was disabled after continual wind speeds of between 14 and 24 metres per second caused a turbine located on a sea wall in Blackpool to develop a mechanical error, the company said in a statement on Friday. The QR5s have been installed on 55 sites for clients including Network Rail, Sainsbury's and self-storage firm Big Yellow.

Manufacturers of the 190ft high turbine, one of three owned by Sheffield University, are now investigating the damage at the site close to the city's Parkway link road to the M1. A blade on the same turbine was broken 15 months ago and residents who live close to the site at Catcliffe, near Rotherham, have expressed fears that they could pose a danger to local people.

A wind turbine at a school in Flackwell Heath has been repaired after part of it fell off into the school playground. A panel - about the size of a dustbin cover - fell off the back of the turbine at Carrington Junior School and the whole structure had to be taken down and repaired over the summer. ...Photographs and an anonymous letter were recieved by the Bucks Free Press saying: "If this can happen, the turbine is a danger and should not be installed anywhere near our children."

The first major UK hydro project to be completed in 50 years, Glendoe was closed less than two months after the Queen officially opened the 100-megawatt station at the end of June. Yesterday, Perth-based SSE said investigations showed that the rock fall, in a tunnel carrying water between the reservoir and the power station, was "very substantial". ...SSE also confirmed the Greater Gabbard wind farm in the Thames Estuary had been hit after faulty welding was discovered on the turbines.

An injured worker from the wind farms off Clacton has been taken to hospital after falling through a hatch on a tug boat. The 24-year-old German man was hurt while working aboard the vessel Arion which transports equipment out to the wind farms.

A man has died in an accident while carrying out maintenance at a wind farm today. It is understood the man was working high up on one of the turbines but did not fall. Police were called at around 9.15am to the Causeymire Wind Farm, south of Spittal, near the A9 in Caithness.

Coca-Cola has scrapped plans for a towering wind turbine at their Wakefield site - after police raised fears it was too near the force helicopter's landing pad. The soft drinks giant wanted to build a 110-metre high turbine in a bid to make its bottling and distribution centre on the Wakefield 41Industrial Estate cleaner and greener.

Controversial plans to build a wind farm near Aberford have been blown away by councillors. The city council's east plans panel has turned down a developer's proposal to put five 125m-tall wind turbines in the green belt on Hook Moor just north of Micklefield. A council report said the application was refused because it would adversely impact on the Precision Approach Radar at RAF Church Fenton and impact upon the Primary Surveillance Radar at RAF Linton on Ouse.

Military officials have warned RAF Cranwell planes could be affected by proposals to build eight 125-metre turbines in the Lincolnshire countryside. The RAF base and those at Waddington and Coningsby have been identified as sites that would be unable to provide a full Air Traffic Radar service if Enertrag UK erected turbines on land between Baumber and Wispington, near Horncastle.

A long-running campaign to build a wind turbine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn has been dealt another blow by councillors. The latest application to build an 80m turbine in the hospital grounds has been refused by West Norfolk's development control board ...This is the second planning application for the turbine which has been turned down.

The county coroner fears drivers could be fatally distracted by the spinning blades of wind turbines placed near roads. Coroner Michael Howells is calling on planners to think carefully about where future turbines are placed. ...The coroner added: "It is, I think, generally accepted that a driver's attention is attracted by movement, whether that movement is on or off the road.

Plans to build a wind farm on a green belt site east of Leeds could be thrown out after council officers recommended refusing the application. Local residents have raised strong concerns over the application to build five wind turbines north of Micklefield, saying the proposed site is too close to their homes and the turbines will blight the landscape. ...the Ministry of Defence raised concerns it could affect radar at RAF Church Fenton and RAF Linton-on-Ouse.

Plans to build two huge wind turbines in the Fen countryside have been thrown out - after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) warned they would put air safety in danger. The blades of the identical turbines at French Farm, Thorney, near Peterborough, would have reached 100 metres high, and despite being 16 miles from RAF Wittering and 23 miles from RAF Cottesmore, the MoD objected on safety grounds.

Faulty wind turbines in a Northumberland beauty spot could be taken down after they stopped working. The three giant structures at Kirkheaton, North of Hexham, were put up almost 10 years ago by EDF Energy. But technical issues have meant that two of the turbines have had to have their blades removed, and haven't been operational since last autumn.

Breaches of health and safety regulations cost Vestas Blades nearly £500,000, a court was told. The Newport turbine blademaker, which is set to close, was fined a maximum £10,000 by Island magistrates and told to pay £25,000 of the Health and Safety Executive's costs.

A wind developer that became a "lightning rod" for the industry when one of its turbines started shedding ice in December, has revealed its latest strategy for dealing with ice build-up, writes Rachel Johnson. ..."We knew icing would occur but believed our turbines would stop in the event of an ice build up," he said. The investigation revealed that the most widely available guidelines on icing, including those from the BWEA, had said that wind turbines are designed to shut down in the event of an ice build up.

A 65 ft blade that flew off the turbine came loose after bolts attaching it to the hub failed, not because of a collision, examination of the components has revealed. ..."The bolt failure was the effect not the cause of the problem. They have ruled out bolt fatigue and design problems, and we know that they were properly put on," said Dale Vince the co-founder of Ecotricity, which owns the farm.

A sensor which should switch off a wind turbine in icy conditions has failed - for the second time. As reported in The Evening Telegraph last week, a faulty sensor on the turbine in King's Dyke, Whittlesey, was blamed for huge shards of ice flying off its blades and crashing into homes and gardens in November. ..."The turbine was shut down immediately after we were alerted, and will remain in this state until further notice."

A faulty sensor on a giant wind turbine is being blamed for huge shards of ice flying off its blades and crashing into nearby homes and gardens. As The Evening Telegraph reported in November, residents in King's Dyke, Whittlesey, had to take cover for more than four hours when huge lumps of ice, some measuring 2ft, were flung from the giant machine's blades.

Work to get the wrecked 'UFO' wind turbine up and running at Conisholme wind farm is underway. Despite the explanation as to why one of the baldes 'fell' and another was left bent still being unknown, workers are at the site and in the next few days, all three 65ft blades and the central hub will be replaced.