When on New Year's Eve he walked along the Mähneweg near Bocholt, a chunk of ice crashed to the ground just a few meters from where he stood. "I've got a huge horror, of course," he says. The approximately 60-centimeter (nearly 2-foot) ice piece had flown down from a 98-meter high wind turbine.
When on New Year's Eve he walked along the Mähneweg near Bocholt, a chunk of ice crashed to the ground just a few meters from where he stood. "I've got a huge horror, of course," he says. The approximately 60-centimeter (nearly 2-foot) ice piece had flown down from a 98-meter high wind turbine.
Translation from German to English using Google Translate.
Bocholt - Werner van Veenendaal still sits in the limelight. When on New Year's Eve he walked along the Mähneweg near Bocholt, a chunk of ice crashed to the ground just a few meters from where he stood. "I've got a huge horror, of course," he says. The approximately 60-centimeter (nearly 2-foot) ice piece had flown down from a 98-meter high wind turbine.
[Editor note: An aerial view of the turbines referenced in this story can be see in the image on this page. The turbines are as close as 150-feet to the road.]
He had found several pieces of ice between 40 and 60 centimeters. "The street was littered with smaller pieces," says van Veenendaal. On Saturday it was very foggy. "I …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]Translation from German to English using Google Translate.
Bocholt - Werner van Veenendaal still sits in the limelight. When on New Year's Eve he walked along the Mähneweg near Bocholt, a chunk of ice crashed to the ground just a few meters from where he stood. "I've got a huge horror, of course," he says. The approximately 60-centimeter (nearly 2-foot) ice piece had flown down from a 98-meter high wind turbine.
[Editor note: An aerial view of the turbines referenced in this story can be see in the image on this page. The turbines are as close as 150-feet to the road.]
He had found several pieces of ice between 40 and 60 centimeters. "The street was littered with smaller pieces," says van Veenendaal. On Saturday it was very foggy. "I could not see the top of the wind turbine and could not see ice there."
Systems are equipped with technical warning selectors
There are three windmills along the Mähneweg near Bocholt. Van Veenendaal: "All three [turbines] were operating even though we had temperatures around freezing. The windmills would have to switched off under these conditions. "
They should indeed, as Nils Algermissen of Tobi Windenergie & Co. KG say. The systems were equipped with technical warning sensors. These should determine when ice is formed on the rotor blades, and the wind turbines are automatically switched off. "We do not know yet why this time has not happened."
"I do not want to imagine what could have happened"
Tobi Wind Energy who owns the the wind turbine is a combination of over a dozen municipalities, including the Bocholter Energie- und Wasserversorgung (BEW). PSM is responsible for monitoring.
Werner van Veenendaal walks on the Mähneweg regularly in the morning and afternoon where he also lives with his dog. In order to be able to prove the danger of falling ice, he kept a large chunk in his refrigerator.
"The Mähneweg is a public street," says van Veenendaal. "I do not want to imagine what could have happened," he adds, thinking of his granddaughters Hanna and Helena.