It all started when the Gorran School got the bright idea that a wind turbine would solve all their electrical bills while doing some feel good environmentalism. The BBC was ecstatic when they reported on it back in 2008:
A Cornish primary school could soon be almost completely powered by a single wind turbine.
The turbine should be up and running by the end of March
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Gorran Primary School on the Roseland, has secured more than £50,000 from different agencies to carry out the work on the 15m (49ft) high turbine.
It should be up and running at the end of March at the school made famous by Anne Treneer’s autobiography The Schoolhouse in the Wind.
The head teacher Matthew Oakley says it should save the school £5,000 a year.
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And then, reality came crashing down to Earth:
Wind brings down turbine 02/12/2009 The Newquay Voice
THE eco-dream of a village school turned into a Friday 13th nightmare when high winds destroyed their wind turbine.
Two blades flew off from the 15m tall turbine in Gorran School’s playing field during the bad weather earlier this month. The turbine was part of the school’s £53,000 plan to generate its own electricity,
On the afternoon of Friday, November 13, the school was advised to turn on the brakes to stop the turbine, but the brakes failed, causing two blades to detach in the early hours of Saturday morning.
A concerned parent said: “Thank God it happened when the children were not out on the field. Looking at the size and weight of those rotor blades, I dread to think what would have happened if they had snapped off while they were there.”
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This is not the first problem Gorran School have experienced with their wind turbine. Only seven months after it was erected in July 2008 it went on the blink. It was repaired by the manufacturers at the time at no cost to the school, and they were reimbursed for the lost generation while the turbine was not working.
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Now today, the company has walked away from the mess according to the Telegraph, and the school has a pile of scrap:
Eco-friendly school left out of pocket after ‘unproven’ wind turbine breaks
An eco-friendly school has been left £55,000 out of pocket after its wind turbine broke – with governors admitting that it was based on “completely unproven technology”.
The company that installed the turbine has gone bust leaving the school with a pile of scrap.
The Gorran School in Cornwall revealed its 15 metre turbine in 2008 which was designed to provide it with free electricity – and sell any surplus power to the National Grid.
The system was seen as a green blueprint for clean, sustainable energy for schools nationwide and received grants from various bodies including the EDF power firm.
But soon after being installed the wind turbine became faulty and after a few months seized up – showering the school’s playing field with debris.
Since then the school has been locked in a battle with suppliers Proven Energy which has now gone into administration leaving the school with little hope of any money being returned – and a pile of scrap in their field.
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Having learned nothing in Gorran, they are still at it, from the BBC on August 19th:
19 August 2011 Last updated at 03:31 ET
Wind energy for Gorran community
The turbines at Gorran may be generating power within a matter of weeks
The small community of Gorran in south Cornwall will soon be generating its own energy and exporting surplus to the national grid.
Work to erect two community wind turbines at a cost of £500,000 is well under way.
Community Power Cornwall, a local co-operative, is behind the project.
The organisation has helped the villagers in Gorran to look at its energy needs and developed a renewable energy scheme.
‘Big symbol’
Villager Ella Westland, from Transition Gorran, said clean energy production and low carbon living were “things many villagers have been working towards for a long time”.
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Yeah ‘Big Symbol’ alright – of FAIL. Just look at all the FAIL in California.
The article describes one isolated failure in wind systems. This is hardly representative of wind power everywhere. It’s a description of a proverbial lemon – the rare automobile that atypically has problem after problem beginning when it is brand new.
Why don’t we see any stories here about how China has more installed wind power than any other country on the planet? China doesn’t dally with wind power due to silly environmentalist whackoism. China’s a communist country and they’ll round up silly environmentalists and send them to re-education camps or worse. Texas has become the leader in wind power in the United States and Texas is also not well known for allowing silly liberals to interfere with what’s best for businesses.
The fact of the matter is that wind power makes a certain amount of sense and when deployed in a sensible manner it’s a good thing. Where it goes wrong is when governments are driven to do stupid things by environmentalist whacko lobbies and constituents that problems happen. The case described in the OP is an example of environmentalist whackoism in action and sensationalist cherry picking of wind-related stories by the author whose confirmation and political bias compels him to publish these things while pointedly avoiding reporting on wind power success stories like what’s happening in Texas and China where business sense rules the day rather than environmentalist stupidity.
I kind of agree with this, diversity in energy production must be good thing, but is has to be sensible and cost effective. Unfortunately, finding sensible unbiased advice is tricky and over the top claims for alternative energy sources obscure the debate and mislead the public.
So, getting a wind turbine isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I agree with the parent-the kids would have died if any part fell on top of them.
Rational Debate says:
October 6, 2011 at 7:18 pm
“ I sure wouldn’t want to be around one that lets go – or have anyone or anything I cared for in the vicinity. “
This will give some idea of the damage potential:
This was a relatively small (~ 200 ft) turbine by today’s standards but even here the scale hides the speed that the parts are travelling at. The clouds of earth thrown up when the parts hit the ground give a good indication of the forces involved.
Thanks DirkH for the update on why this is appearing now.
The UK’s installed wind capacity is about 5.2gw. So at the nominal 30% we can expect from them they would produce ON AVERAGE 1.56gw. The proposed nuke at Hinkley Point C would produce 1.6gw CONTINUOUSLY.
So every single stupid overpriced windmill can be replaced with one nuclear power plant. The lunatics really are running the asylum.
BTW, the usual suspects were blockading the site for Hinkley Point C earlier this week. Makes me so sad.
Oh – the irony – the thing failed due to ‘unproven technology’…
….Supplied by a company called ‘Proven’…
Now they want to try solar panels – in Cornwall..? Have they really got so much money to waste at that school..??
something else which made me chuckle was that the kiddywinks buried a time capsule which was to be opened in 2058 – on the FIFTIETH anniversary of the installation – did they REALLY think it would last that long..?
Conspicuous by its absence is any BBC article reporting the failure of the wind turbine – surely, in the intersts of balanced journalism, equal weight should be given to this event..? Ah, but I should know better – this is the BBC we’re talking about…
There are plans to build one of these wind monsters on the waterfront of Bayonne, NJ. The local paper has been hailing it as something wonderful. I am dreading what it will do to the local wildlife. Since the Hudson and Hackensack rivers have cleaned up (modern sewage treatment), birds such as ospreys have come back. Now they will get pureed by the blades of a wind turbine.
@TimTheToolMan
If they’d have invested the money in a typical US regulated utility, they’d earn a nice return, while actually helping to generate useful energy.
Don’t blame this on renewable energy, remember there are witches in that part of England and you will note it happened on Friday the 13th. Coincidence? I think not.
@jonjermey says:
October 6, 2011 at 5:45 pm
It won’t be too long before someone gets killed by one of these.
At that point, the death toll from wind will have surpassed the death toll from nuclear (in the free world).
@Patrick Guinness says:
October 6, 2011 at 9:20 pm
wonder if taxpayers know they are helping BP put up hundreds of turbines
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What’s wrong with BP. They have a proven track record of bring in massive oil wells. It’s a damn shame the Obama administration over-reacted and made them cap and seal off that well in the gulf. That oil could be displacing imported oil going into a refinery somewhere. Here’s hoping we get back to full throttle production and exploration in the gulf soon (at least after November, 2012).
Pat Frank says: October 6, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Supplier of the downed wind turbine: “Proven Energy.” Perfection in inadvertent irony.
As the only person here who probably built a part of the Proven windmill (control boards), I can tell you that in 2003 Gordon Proven’s windmills had a reputation second to none. And this was nothing to do with global warming, it was because they had been tried and tested in Scotland supplying remote off-grid crofts and smallholding.
Unfortunately, I stopped supplying them, Gordon Proven became ill and a bunch of venture capitalists took over. I’ve no doubt they just poo pooed the 2 or 3 engineers from the original team when they told them that reliability was critical and I’ve no doubt they thought they could just cut corners and costs.
Gordon Proven, wasn’t the easiest person to work with, but there was no question that Proven was the turbine for 600w-15kw machines. Unfortunately a lot of individuals and small groups have lost out, and the real truth is that if the original engineering team had still been running the company, they may not have been so large, but they certainly wouldn’t have got into this mess.
Geotherm is quite practical, in places like Iceland and Hawaii, where the hot magma is close to the surface.
Where it’s deep, one of the issues has been that pumping water down deep drill holes seems to encourage tremors. This has pretty much killed the research, no one wants the liability risk for an earthquake.
IER comparison of energy production technology here, based on EIA data. Solar is more expensive than wind, and both have low capacity factors (meaning they seldom produce at full capacity).
Article on the economics on solar PV here
Denmark. case study on wind here.
German study here
Sorry I didn’t get the IER link right.
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2009/05/12/levelized-cost-of-new-generating-technologies/
wayne Job says: October 7, 2011 at 3:02 am
Wind generators were once a very desirable product and totally reliable.
What planet are you living on?
Wind turbines have always been highly unreliable and it is only those companies that recognised the critical nature of making them as reliable as possible that survived.
E.g. The UK and US had huge research budgets, they built enormous “efficient” machines. The Danes had a research budget that involved going down to the scrap dealer and finding a lorry gear box. Danish windmills were ugly, heavy and built by agricultural companies. UK and US machines were beautiful high tech and never working, whereas the Danish machines kept going (relatively).
I know the facts, because I made the effort to go and visit one of the windmill maintenance companies in Denmark and spent a few hours touring their plant. I’ve still got one of the bearings from a windmill that I use as a paperweight. I heard first hand all the problems they had.
The figure worth remembering is that a turbine blade tip travels around 1million miles a year. That compares to your average car driving 5,000-10,000 miles between services and the stresses are not dissimilar because of the wind stress and buffeting. Indeed, if anything the stresses on a windmill are much greater as the blades constantly go from the high wind zone at the top to the lower speed windzone at the bottom.
The reason almost every new windmill producer goes out of business is precisely because they underestimate the engineering problems overcoming failures, reliability and maintenance
Galane says:
October 7, 2011 at 3:44 am
“Anybody want to drive an older car without Anti-Lock Brakes on a wet or frozen road today ?”
Heck yeah. I learned how to drive without antilock brakes. What begat the “need” for antilock brakes was the idiotic pumping technique that started being taught in the late 70′s…..
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Thanks for that comment. I too learned on manual brakes. The idiocy I see on the roads today makes me shake my head. (Especially all the tailgating in bad weather) I learned to stay off the $#@ur momisugly# BRAKES when driving on frozen roads. You think ahead, down shift and use the brake sparingly.
RobWansbeck says: October 6, 2011 at 6:05 pm
“ Does anyone happen to know just how far one of these can throw a blade or turbine housing/blades when they blow to peices? “
I had two small marlecs (around 1m across). These were on a hillside and we had a storm. When I arrived there was not much left of one windmill and the other had burnt out. I spent half an hour looking for the blades and found some parts as far as 50m downwind.
I used to have a windmill on our house (when I did design work). I’ve since realised that they could do serious damage and I advise anyone having a windmill to get insurance to cover damage to people and property from blades shearing, as well as structural damage to the building from vibration and shearing stresses.
In 5-10 years, as the bearings start going on these household windmills in the UK, we are going to start hearing a string of stories about how 1000s, if not 10,000s of damage was done to buildings and possible incidents of blades going through windows of house and parked cars … and will any of the companies be in business to be sued?
Now, that’s no laughing matter. But I laughed anyway. 😀
pauline says:
October 7, 2011 at 4:52 am
“I kind of agree with this, diversity in energy production must be good thing, but is has to be sensible and cost effective. Unfortunately, finding sensible unbiased advice is tricky and over the top claims for alternative energy sources obscure the debate and mislead the public.”
Yes. There are places where wind power is so heavily subsidized and faddish that people from consumers to manufacturers and installers make foolish decisions and live to regret it. When a deeply conservative business oriented state like Texas takes the lead in US wind power (surprisingly now Iowa is second to Texas with California in third place) it must be cost effective. Even more noteworthy is when a no-nonsense communist nation like China is the world leader in installed wind power that’s also compelling evidence that wind power can be done in a cost effective manner. The on the other hand you’ve got the environmentalist whacko dominated nations like Great Britain, Spain, and Australia whose wind exploits are more along the lines of a consortium between The Three Stooges, The Keystone Cops, and Monty Python… grand comedic failures.
“What is the problem with solar panels?” For starters, the average capacity factor across the UK for the last year was <5%. That's so near to zero that it is hardly worth taking them out of their packing cases and going to all the trouble and mess of ruining your roof and connecting them up, with all the attendant risks to your house. Will your insurance cover your house burning down when the inverter fails?
RobWansbeck says:
October 6, 2011 at 5:55 pm
Here is an example of wind turbines producing contrails to put the aviation industry to shame:
http://www.windaction.org/pictures/25251
Wow!
That picture is worth a Pulitzer.
Out on Whidbey Island, WA where I live a new “Child Development Center” was created next to an existing elementary school. They put in 4 small wind turbines (rough estimate, 6 foot total blade rotation diameter each). Problem is, they left all the tall trees around the Center, which means the turbines are sheltered from most normal winds. We do often get high winds here, which means when it gusts up over 50mph, they’ll have to shut them down, even though they won’t be receiving the brunt of the wind. Completely useless.
I noticed a private wind turbine badly damged from wind just yesterday. This is the reality of owning a wind turbine, sure they can make you money when the wind blows, but if there is no wind you lose money and if there is too much wind you lose money. And that’s no including the maintenence costs like replacing bearings and bushings, repairing rust and other damage. I say that wind turbines are still too expensive and are not ready for prime time.
Its too bad this has happened to a school who built this thing with good intensions. Its a shame.
Too bad for Gorban School and for the children as well. How come these turbines fail when thousands of them are fully functional across states?
anorak2 says:
October 7, 2011 at 4:07 am
pauline says:
“The cost. According to many studies on the subject, the cost per kilowatthour solar power is about ten times the cost of the same kilowatthour from a coal plant. ”
Studies I actually believe (US Department of Energy) peg it at 4 times the cost of the lowest cost alternative (combined cycle natural gas).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source#US_Department_of_Energy_estimates
These are total levelized costs ($/megawatt hour) including depreciation & amortization for new capacity going into service in 2016:
conventional coal $95
advanced coal $109
coal w/carbon sequestration $136
ng conventional $125
ng advanced conventional $104
ng advanced combined cycle $63
ng convetional combined cycle $66
ng advanced CC with carbon sequestration $89
advanced nuclear $114
conventional wind $97
offshore wind $243
solar photovoltaic $211
solar thermal $312
geothermal $101
biomass $113
hydroelectric $86
There are some surprises in there for most people and it needs to be kept in mind that some of these generating methods are quite limited in where and when they may be employed, how scalable they are, and the upper limit on practical capacity.
As you can see conventional wind is one of the cheaper sources of electricity but it can only be effectively employed where winds are steady and brisk and not too far removed from the grid to limit new transmission investment. And of course wind is one of the least predictable sources over the short term which causes some supply/demand matching headaches but as far as cost to generate it is cheaper than nuclear, competitive with coal, and only exceeded by advanced combined cycle natural gas.
pauline says:
October 7, 2011 at 3:27 am
“But all the reports regarding solar power seem rather over-hyped and I am not sure I believe any of it, so is there an idiots guide to solar energy that is not from interested parties like the UK government or energy companies? We do get some sun sometimes in UK, It was sunny yesterday for a bit..”
The insolation in the UK is equivalent to about 800 hours of full sunlight a year. A solar installation will cost you about 2.40 EUR (I think that’s about 2 GBP) per Watt-peak; this buys you the necessary solar panels and the electronics (the inverter) and the installation. That means that an investment of 2 GBP will produce 0.8 kWh per year. I don’t know about British energy tariffs, guess they are somewhat cheaper than here in Germany, but let’s assume 15 pence/kWh, so your investment of 2 GBP will return about 0.12 GBP a year without subsidies. Run it for 20 years, hope that it lasts that long, and you get 2.40 GBP for your 2 GBP investment.
Prizes for solar panels and inverters have been going down by 20% a year during the last 2 decades; so it will at a certain moment become economically viable if that trend continues, even in shady climes like the UK or Germany. But what we see right now is only subsidy-driven installations.