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Call for Conisholme wind farm to be closed; Ecotricity say there is no danger to the public
January 7, 2009 in Louth Leader
January 7, 2009 in Louth Leader
A call has been made for the Conisholme wind farm to be closed - before someone is injured.
Coun Robert Palmer, Chairman of East Lindsey District Council, says the site should be closed off to the public while an independent health and safety investigation is carried out.
On Sunday morning local people woke to find a blade on one of the 89 metre high wind turbines in Fen Lane had broken off.
Has the tenacle UFO got something to do with the broken blades at Conisholme?
Engineers from Ecotricity are working to establish how a 20m blade mysteriously fell off a turbine at Conisholme wind farm - but residents have their own conclusions.
It is believed the a blade fell off the 89m turbine and another was left badly bent on Sunday January 4.
Over the weekend, reports of a blade missing from one of the mammoth turbines and another blade being badly bent out of shape came to light.
The cause of the damage has yet to be established, however some say it could be down to icy weather.
Also filed under [
Structural Failure|
UK]
An investigation suggests an explosion and fire inside a Nebraska wind turbine was caused by a "foreign object". ...the "object" blew into the turbine causing the blast.
One of the blades of a Suez Energy North America V-90 wind turbine situated approximately 1,600 feet away, between her house and the Northumberland Strait, was damaged. Pieces were dangling from the blade and other pieces were strewn throughout a field, right up to her back door. ...Sabota reported that blades on two of the three turbines in Suez Renewable Energy North America's Norway wind park sustained some damage.
Wind, but no power; Early February is new deadline for turbine project
December 20, 2008 by Charles Ramsay in Mesabi Daily News
December 20, 2008 by Charles Ramsay in Mesabi Daily News
The 10 wind turbines at the Taconite Ridge wind farm will probably still be motionless until early February, a company spokesperson said Thursday.
Nine of the ten wind turbines now are having repairs done to blades, instead of just five, that was reported earlier. The completion date for repairs has been pushed back from mid-January, said Amy Rutledge, Minnesota Power communications manager.
Also filed under [
Structural Failure|
Minnesota]
Cause of Bloomfield turbine fire still under investigation
December 3, 2008 by Randy Dockendorf in Yankton Press and Dakotan
December 3, 2008 by Randy Dockendorf in Yankton Press and Dakotan
Three investigative teams will be coordinated to learn the cause of this week's fire atop a 260-foot wind turbine north of Bloomfield, the state fire marshal's office said Thursday.
The fire occurred at one of 27 turbines on the 80-megawatt Elkhorn Ridge wind farm under construction. Once completed, Elkhorn Ridge will become Nebraska's largest wind farm. ...Meanwhile, work has been suspended at the wind farm, Roberts said.
An explosion and fire at a wind farm under construction in northeast Nebraska has injured three workers.
One man, who was atop a tower when a turbine exploded, received first- and second-degree burns in the fire Tuesday morning. Two others, who were nearby, were treated for smoke inhalation and released.
Attorney: Be cautious with wind farms
November 26, 2008 by Algis J. Laukaitis in Lincoln Journal Star
November 26, 2008 by Algis J. Laukaitis in Lincoln Journal Star
A guy in a suit knocks on your door and says he's a wind farm developer and wants to put a big wind turbine on your farm.
He offers you thousands of dollars for a long-term lease and says you can still farm the land and make some good money, too, just by signing a piece of paper.
Sounds tempting. What do you do?
Energy sources from the atom to industrial hemp were promoted in Nebraska City Friday at a Nebraska Energy Office hearing.
Neil Moseman, who Gov. Dave Heineman appointed in May to head the energy office, said the hearing was the last of eight held across the state in advance of revisions to the state's 1992 policy.
Air Repair: Cracked blade replaced at Corn Plus
October 27, 2008 by Tony Acosta in Faribault County Register
October 27, 2008 by Tony Acosta in Faribault County Register
When it came time to start repairing a wind turbine at the ethanol plant on Oct. 15, the project had to be put on hold. ..."The blade has been cracked all summer. It's been frustrating," says Dan Moore, director of project development for Renewable Energy Solutions.
When the broken blade was discovered, the turbine furthest from the ethanol plant had to be shut down.
All three blades needed to be replaced, says Moore, because we couldn't find one to match the other two.
When we reported on the videotaped Vestas turbine explosion, the wind energy watchdog group Industrial Wind Action Group had a list of 36 turbine failures in the U.S. Today that list has grown to 51 recorded turbine failures. Across the pond, the British group Caithness Wind Farms, which tracks such global turbine accidents, says the number has jumped to 65 so far this year, up from 11 in 2001.
There are 11 wind turbines at Green Mountain Power's Searsburg wind facility but recently one of them suffered a setback when its nacelle (or wind turbine gearbox) collapsed in high wind conditions. ...On Monday, September 15, a blade on turbine number 10 came in contact with the tower. The chain reaction caused it to buckle and it crashed to the ground, scattering debris several hundred feet from the structure. No individuals were hurt when the nacelle collapsed. However the nacelle leaked 40 gallons of hydraulic oil on the site.
Blade breaks off wind tower near Wyanet
October 23, 2008 by Karen Newby and Matt Buedel in Journal Star
October 23, 2008 by Karen Newby and Matt Buedel in Journal Star
A wind turbine blade came crashing to the ground Wednesday, halting energy production at a small-scale wind farm southwest of Wyanet because of what may be a defective design.
In all, four turbines on Richard Shertz's property - all part of the AgriWind facility in central Bureau County - have stopped turning after a blade on top of one of the towers broke off about 9:30 a.m.
"It was the loudest noise I've ever heard," he said. "I thought it was thunder."
Shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday, a rotating blade on a wind turbine at Schertz's farm broke off, plunging to the earth in a cornfield about 150 feet west of the turbine. ...The spokesperson said the investigation into this turbine had just started, but the company was in the middle of a blade retrofit program across the United States to correct an "unfortunate" design issue in the first generation of this blade.
Two conditional use permits regarding meteorological towers were unanimously approved by the Otoe County Planning Commission Thursday, Oct. 16, at Syracuse.
Both will be forwarded to the Otoe County Commissioners for their approval.
One tower will be near County Road L and County Road 10 as requested by the Kenneth Hartman trust. The other tower will be south of County Road P and near County Road 18 as requested by Russel and Keith Moss.
Also filed under [
Zoning/Planning|
Nebraska]
Wind turbine repairs scheduled; Five of 10 machines turned off due to defects
October 18, 2008 by Charles Ramsay in Mesabi Daily News
October 18, 2008 by Charles Ramsay in Mesabi Daily News
It's not just a lack of wind as the reason why some of those wind turbines in the Taconite Ridge wind farm aren't turning.
Half of the 10 machines had to be turned off.
After a recent routine maintenance check, it was found that five of them had non-structural defects in some of the blades. The affected turbines were shut down and are awaiting repairs, which are expected to go through the end of the year, Amy Rutledge, Minnesota Power communications manager, said Friday.
Oil spill cleanup complete (Searsburg turbine)
October 17, 2008 by Susan Smallheer in Rutland Herald
October 17, 2008 by Susan Smallheer in Rutland Herald
When one of the 11 wind turbines at the Searsburg wind facility collapsed last month during wind gusts left over from Hurricane Ike, it spilled about 40 gallons of hydraulic oil and crankcase oil.
The spill has since been cleaned up, the Agency of Natural Resources said. ...Tedesco said the turbines - blades, nacelle and tower - were designed to withstand winds of 100 miles an hour, and that the blade came off during a gust of wind measuring around 66 miles an hour on Sept. 15, tail winds from Hurricane Ike. He said the winds hadn't even been high enough to trigger one of the turbine's built-in safety features.
Also filed under [
Structural Failure|
Vermont]
Wind-farm contracts stir up lots of questions
October 16, 2008 by Elizabeth Ahlin in Omaha World-Herald
October 16, 2008 by Elizabeth Ahlin in Omaha World-Herald
[E]xperts say, read the fine print. Under some contracts with wind developers - contracts ranging from 30 to 180 years - rural lands could be affected for generations to come. ...Too often, landowners hear a sales pitch and sign a contract without reading it.
"If the wind blew at your place yesterday and it blew there today, it's probably going to blow there tomorrow," said Hansen, who urges farmers not to let wind developers rush them.
A blade on one of the Searsburg wind power turbines flew off during a recent windstorm, hitting the tower the turbine sits on and destroying it.
It is unclear when, or even if, the nonfunctioning turbine will be back to full capacity. It was one of 11 that make up the Searsburg project owned by Green Mountain Power.
"We had some really strong winds coming through," said GMP spokeswoman Dorothy Schnure. "A blade failed and struck the tower."