News
Category:
Safety and UK
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.
Also filed under [
Structural Failure]
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.
Also filed under [
Structural Failure]
A Norfolk action group has highlighted the lack of industry regulation on wind turbines by producing its own report.
Campaign group 4Villages said there is a growing danger to the public from wind turbine accidents, with an increasing number of incidents worldwide involving giant turbines catching fire, losing propeller parts or shedding lumps of ice.
Also filed under [
Injury]
Wind turbine closed after showering homes with blocks of ice
December 4, 2008 by Murray Wardrop in Telegraph.co.uk
December 4, 2008 by Murray Wardrop in Telegraph.co.uk
A wind turbine has been switched off and an investigation launched after its frozen blades showered nearby homes with large chunks of ice.
Residents complained when the 260ft wind generator began hurling shards of ice, some measuring two feet long, after the cold snap over the weekend.
Also filed under [
Icing]
Residents were left fearing for their safety after shards of melting ice fell on homes and gardens from the blades of a giant wind turbine.
For about four hours people in King's Dyke, Whittlesey, had to take cover as huge lumps - some two feet long - showered them from the 80 metre high tower on Saturday morning.
Resident Peter Randall, whose son's house lies a stone's throw away from the turbine, said: "Somebody is going to get killed. There was huge lumps of ice shooting off and landing everywhere.
Also filed under [
Icing]
Rumours that giant wind turbines at Camber are sinking into the marsh have been scotched.
Neale East, of the Wind Farm Liaison Group, said: "No they are not sinking. There is no truth in this whatsoever.
"All 26 turbines are now up and the next construction work to take place will be putting up three metereological masts.
Also filed under [
General]
Wind farm fears after turbine is destroyed
October 1, 2008 by Gareth Buterfield in Ashbourne News Telegraph
October 1, 2008 by Gareth Buterfield in Ashbourne News Telegraph
Shocking footage of a malfunction that destroyed a Danish wind turbine has been passed to the News Telegraph - by a district councillor concerned over the future of Ashbourne's first wind farm.
District and county councillor Andrew Lewer says he sees the decision to allow an appeal and grant permission for four turbines near to Carsington Water as a "nail in the coffin for local democracy".
James Fisher and Sons, which owns liquefied gas tankers and nuclear waste vessels, is a member of the prestigious UK Chamber of Shipping.
The Chamber has slammed the government's decision to give the go ahead for the 139 turbine West of Duddon Sands windfarm to be built eight miles off Walney.
A spokesman for the Chamber said: "We are extremely disappointed that the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has given consent to the development of the West of Duddon Sands Windfarm site in Morecambe Bay without properly taking into account either the safety of seafarers and passengers, or the environmental costs of forcing ships to detour around the site.
Green town put on hold over plane crash fears
September 24, 2008 by Roxanne Millar in Contract Journal
September 24, 2008 by Roxanne Millar in Contract Journal
A zero-carbon development near Wigan has been put on hold over concerns that a proposed wind turbine will interfere with air traffic.
English Partnerships (EP) has suspended the bidding process after receiving an objection from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) about the 150m-high turbine.
The CAA is concerned the 2MW turbine, which would have powered the 650 homes planned on the Bickershaw site, will interfere with light aircraft based at Liverpool and Manchester airports.
Kerry County Council says this month's record rainfall is at least partly to blame for the slide, which occurred during construction work on a roadway to an electricity wind farm.
Large volumes of peat have so far travelled over 3km, sweeping away a bridge and preventing some residents from accessing their homes.
Also filed under [
Impact on Landscape]
The Ministry of Defence has finally withdrawn its objections to two major wind farms following the intervention of Gordon Brown.
For years the MoD has fought the creation of two large wind farms off the coast of Northumberland and Norfolk because of fears of radar interference.
It emerged last year that nearly half of all proposed wind farms were stuck in the planning process because of objections from the MoD, which has many RAF bases on the east coast of Britain.
This meant that the Government had no chance of achieving its target of producing 20% of the country's total energy from renewable resources by 2020.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
Plans for a major wind farm in Northumberland were approved by the Government yesterday.
npower renewables' proposal to erect 18 turbines, 125m high, at Middlemoor, North Charlton, near Alnwick, was given the go-ahead by Energy Secretary John Hutton.
But the wind farm cannot be erected until the energy giant comes up with a way to make sure the turbines do not affect RAF radar systems.
Also filed under [
Zoning/Planning]
Two new wind farm planning approvals dependent on developers and MoD agreeing way of minimising radar disruption ...approvals are conditional on technical solutions being developed that mitigate the effects of the turbines on the Air Defence Radar at RAF Brizlee Wood and Trimmingham respectively. The government said that both the business and defence ministers must be satisfied the impacts on these air defence radar are acceptable for the projects to proceed.
Also filed under [
Zoning/Planning]
Repairs have started to a giant wind turbine between Sheffield and Rotherham after it was knocked out by a gale.
A crack was spotted in the blades of one of two turbines yards from the Sheffield Parkway during high winds last month.
A special failsafe device cut in to prevent further damage - and the crippled blades were allowed to fall to the ground.
Since then, investigations have been going on into the damage at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, where the University of Sheffield operate the two turbines.
Also filed under [
Structural Failure]
Earlier in the inquiry the MoD said the proposed 100m-high turbines could interfere with radars, which were vital in guiding aircraft and identifying threats. ...However, on the day when final submissions were heard, the Ministry withdrew its opposition to the plans.
It accepted an offer of mitigation by RidgeWind to provide coverage through a non-military radar.
The MoD withdrew its objection on the condition that: "Ridgewind meets the capital costs" of implementing the system.
National security, not renewable energy, will win the day in a battle being fought over two pending wind farm applications, the Gazette has been told.
A decision from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is looming on 18 turbines proposed by npower renewables at Middlemoor, which was subject to a public inquiry last November.
And a further hearing is about to launch into more at neighbouring Wandylaw ...But according to a well-placed source, both are doomed to certain failure because of Ministry of Defence (MoD) concerns over the effect of the turbines on both early warning radar systems and low-flying fast jets.
Aviation experts are set to clash over the impact a proposed wind farm at Routh, near Beverley, could have on radar installations.
Twelve huge turbines could endanger aircraft flying over the region, a public inquiry into the controversial development will hear on Tuesday.
Wind farm business RidgeWind Ltd is appealing against East Riding Council's refusal to allow the development at Hall Farm in Routh.
Also filed under [
Zoning/Planning]
Farmhouse horror as (16-ft) turbine blade smashes through roof
June 18, 2008 by Linda McKee in Belfast Telegraph
June 18, 2008 by Linda McKee in Belfast Telegraph
A farmer has described the shocking moment a 16-foot wind turbine blade smashed through the roof of his home as his family slept inside. "It was like a bomb hitting the roof of the house. It shattered the tiles and the blade disintegrated itself," David Campbell told the Belfast Telegraph.
The turbine was one of a batch of 11 defective machines installed on farms in Northern Ireland with the help of European funding provided by the Department of Agriculture.
All 11 of the Chinese-built turbines, sourced from the same supplier, have broken down but the farmers have been left thousands of pounds out of pocket and they complain that no-one is doing anything to help.
Energy companies and the Ministry of Defence have agreed a deal to jointly fund costly radar equipment upgrades, breaking an impasse that threatened to stop several major offshore wind projects in their tracks and blow the Government's highly ambitious renewable energy goals off course.
The framework agreement will be unveiled "imminently", according to sources close to the situation. Forged after energy executives infuriated by several MoD objections took their case directly to the Prime Minister ...
It is understood that the sides reached the agreement after Gordon Brown stepped in. His administration has made green energy a centrepiece issue.