Children at an island primary were sent home after a newly-installed wind turbine next to their school collapsed, it emerged yesterday. Parents of youngsters at the 18-pupil Raasay Primary School were asked to collect their children following the incident on November 13. The 50ft turbine will "remain out of commission" until an investigation has been carried out.

Early work on a unified wind turbine policy was met with many questions at Thursday's Burleigh County Planning Commission meeting. Bismarck City Planner Gregg Greenquist said the policy should be split between "household wind energy systems" and larger wind farms. Greenquist said a large expansion is planned for a wind farm near Wilton into the Burleigh County jurisdiction.

Many people in North Dakota are thrilled that wind turbines are dotting the state. It is an alternate source of energy, and financially, it is good for the state's economy. But there are two sides to every story, and state legislators heard both sides on Wednesday in Valley City. The Energy Development and Transmission Committee first listened to NextEra Energy Resources representatives on wind facility construction and operation.

Blades the length of almost two school buses from a wind turbine owned by Akron-Westfield School District rest on the ground while repairs are underway. The turbine's gearbox was also brought down using a tall crane to reach the top of the 11-year-old structure's 165-foot-tall tower, which is much higher than people realize, said Dwain Wilmot, A-W technology coordinator. "You can see Vermillion (S.D.) on a good day," Wilmot said, if you stand on the top of the wind turbine tower. "I've only seen it once or twice."

Just Wind asked the Stutsman County Commission to lower the application fee for a wind farm zoning permit during the commission's regular meeting Tuesday. The fee was set at $500 per wind turbine when the wind farm zoning ordinance was passed this spring. ..."According to your figures, a 250-turbine project will cost about $1.5 billion," said Noel Johnson, chief operating officer of the county. "And you're saying the $125,000 permit fee would kill it?"

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.

The Morton County Commission heard a new pitch for a wind farm at its Oct. 8 meeting. In 2010, Nextera Energy of Juno Beach, Fla., wants to place 33 wind turbines between west of Mandan and New Salem. Thirty-three will be added for the next project. ...The company has submitted a letter of intent to the North Dakota Public Service Commission and a permit application to the Morton County Auditor's Office.

A transformer at the Maple Ridge Wind Farm's substation off Rector Road was destroyed by fire late Monday afternoon. Martinsburg firefighters were dispatched to the substation about 5 p.m. but had to wait until the facility was shut down before extinguishing the blaze, said Lewis County Fire Coordinator James M. Martin. ...The Columbus Day fire was the second transformer fire at the site, with a similar incident occurring July 4, 2007. In that case, 491 gallons of mineral oil leaked from the damaged transformer

Fargo school and park officials are letting a potential wind turbine project blow by. The Fargo School Board and Fargo Park Board both unanimously voted Tuesday to drop the project. "A single wind turbine in today's economy is not financially feasible," said Dan Huffman, assistant superintendent of business services for Fargo Public Schools. "The revenue coming back from a tower that size doesn't really cover your upfront costs."

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.

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.

Faulty wind turbines could remain at a Northumberland beauty spot for another year if a new planning application is approved. The three giant structures at Kirkheaton, north of Hexham, were put up almost 10 years ago by EDF Energy. But technical issues meant that two of the turbines had to have their blades removed, and only one of the three has been operating since last autumn.

Work will get under way this week to repair a wind turbine damaged by a fire last month at the Kent Hills wind farm in Albert County, roughly 30 km southwest of Moncton. One of the 32 wind turbines at the site caught fire on the morning of Aug. 8, and it's been offline since.

Blade repairs are tricky, Moya said, because the weight and thickness of the repair materials have to be perfectly matched to the blade. Otherwise, a blade ends up lighter or heavier than the others on the windmill, causing the entire apparatus to wobble like an unbalanced tire and ultimately fall apart. "We send images of the damage to our engineers in Houston. They send detailed blueprints back about what needs to be replaced," Moya said.

With their organic gardens and ample land, Andy and Jessie Welsh had the perfect plan. Living in rural Stearns County, the young couple had hoped to be energy self-sufficient and green. ...From the start, the installation was delayed and marked by setbacks. Electricians had a hard time getting the turbine wired to run properly. When it finally did, the turbine ran for just a few days before they received a call from the company instructing them to shut it down.

TransAlta Corp. is still investigating what caused a fire last month that destroyed one of its turbines at the Kent Hills Wind Farm, a company spokesman says. ...Lightning has been ruled out as a factor in the Aug. 8 fire.

When students pull into the Perkins High School parking lot today, they'll see three wind turbines in front of them, fully assembled for the first time since February. But the blades aren't turning yet, and Perkins Schools superintendent Jim Gunner said the school will proceed cautiously in getting the system back up to full capacity. The original 6-meter blades, some of which blew off during an especially windy day in February, are gone.

A power fault has shut down nearly a quarter of the turbines at Little Cheyne Court on Romney Marsh - the biggest onshore wind farm in the south of England - just a month after it was officially opened. Seven out of the 26 wind turbines on the isolated land on the Kent-East Sussex border have been hit by technical problems.

More than 60 people turned out Wednesday evening in Devils Lake to hear Jeff Metzger, president of Just Wind, LLC., explain its philosophy and to begin gauging local interest in a potential wind farm in the county. ...The company currently is developing large-scale wind farms in Logan and Emmons counties.