A fly in the ointment of wind power has been discovered. The turbine installed at Portsmouth High School in March 2009 suffered a mechanical failure estimated to cost nearly a half-million dollars.

The company that installed the turbine, AAER of Canada, went bankrupt a year after installation, and left Portsmouth with no warranty. Even worse, the chief executive of the company hired to oversee maintenance of the turbine stated that gearbox failures occur in "10 percent of turbines nationwide".

That 10 percent failure rate should be a cause of great concern, especially in light of the Deepwater Wind project approved by the... [continue via Web link]