So much for Endurance…
From Louise Gray at The Telegraph:
Wind turbine collapses in high wind
A controversial 115ft wind turbine has collapsed after being hit by heavy winds.
The £250,000 tower, which stood as tall as a ten storey building, was hit by gale force gusts of 50mph.
The structure then collapsed at a farm in Bradworth, Devon, leaving a “mangled wreck”.
Margaret Coles, Chairwoman of Bradworthy District Council, said hail storms and strong winds have hit the area and the turbine, installed just three years ago, simply could not withstand the wind.
“The bolts on the base could not withstand the wind and as we are a very windy part of the country they [the energy company] have egg on their face,” she said. “There are concerns about safety.”
The Bradworthy Parish Council, who opposed the turbine, expressed concern that there was “nothing exceptional” in the speed of the winds.
Installed by renewable energy company Dulas it was supposed to have a life expectancy of 25 years.
Full story here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/9837026/Wind-turbine-collapses-in-high-wind.html
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Of course, Ms. Gray calls a 50 mph wind a “high wind”, but that sort of wind isn’t an unusual event for the area. Besides, the specs for the Endurance E-3120 wind turbine say:
Given its, ahem, endurance, one wonders if the council will allow it to be reconstructed. I’m thinking no.
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£250,000 for something that can – at best – produce enough electricity to power five or six domestic electric showers. Ye Gods.
Are crop circles are caused by wind farm debris?
On behalf of the contractor: the bolts could be fine – the feathering mechanism could be kaput. We’ll need to await the independent inquiries conducted by Lord Oxburgh and Geoffrey Boulton, Esq. to obfuscate the matter completely.
-50Kw thats only 70 horsepower 🙂
So that thing offsets a 70hp outboard motor ? !
Greens are foolishly funny, strange when they individually are such humourless twerps.
The cost of nuclear is pumped to the stratosphere by demanding decommissioning costs be included, yet wind seems to have no such proviso , on the big island Hawaii there are two wind farms, on one the subsidy has expired.
Some ducks die in a Ft McMurray tailing pond, and a flame war ensues, endangered raptors are being diced world wide and the same people turn a blind eye.
The focus on feel good nonfunctioning solutions, indicates even the greens know there is no problem.
But do not worry the windmill owners will “prove” that local terrorists caused the fall of their flawless creation.
The local witches did it.
They didn’t torque up the bolts correctly. OR they forgot the bolts completely.
It rather hinges on the definition of “survival wind speed”. Does that mean gust, or sustained over x minutes?
The Caithness Windfarm Information Forum campaigns against windfarms and compiles accident statistics. It is run by a group of people concerned about the proliferation of wind farms in Scotland.
http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/index.htm
Their accident statistics come from around the world and show that since the 1970’s there have been at least 1328 accidents involving wind farms, including blade failure, structural failure, ice throw and environmental damage such as the deaths of birds and bats. There are also a growing number of accidents in which people have been injured and killed.
For instance, in May 2012 a British diver died during maintenance work at an offshore German wind farm operated by Alpha Ventus. It was the third fatality at German offshore wind farms in two years.
Also in May 2012 a Highland Council turned off turbines at 16 schools due to safety concerns. Safety was reviewed following public concerns and a number of incidents with similar turbines, including the collapse of a turbine in 2009.
http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/fullaccidents.pdf
http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/page4.htm
RenewableUK, the industry trade body, has admitted that 1,500 accidents and other incidents took place on wind farms between 2006 and 2011. These included four deaths and a further 300 injuries to workers.
“The Health and Safety Executive said last week it was “extremely difficult” to assemble a “complete picture of reported incidents at wind farms” because accidents are not recorded by industry type. Its figures showed three fatal accidents between 2007/08 and 2009/10 and a total of 53 major or dangerous incidents in the same time frame.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8948363/1500-accidents-and-incidents-on-UK-wind-farms.html
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Hmm. If, because of these failures, wind farms become liable to aircraft checks, testing and documentation, this will double or treble the cost of these rusting hulks.
For instance, an aircraft door costs about €500,000. Add those sort of prices to a turbine, and you are going out of business quite quickly. (No tears being shed here.)
The problem is that this is leftist engineering … they are math challenged and in constant denial.
…And how many times must a turbine go kaboom
Before we can call the idea lame?
The answer, my friends, is blowin’ in the wind;
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
(Apologies to Peter, Paul and Mary.)
I went looking for images of broken turbines and came across this.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=broken+wind+turbine+uk&view=detail&id=E0AE28C89A2CE3CB6907F80C2039502D1A977BD7&first=75&FORM=IDFRIR
Or they did not used the spec’ed washers. A common cause of catastrophic engineering failure, often poorly understood by the tradesmen.
Take a look at the pictures of south Florida after Hurricane Andrew went through and ask yourself how many solar panels and wind turbines will be left the next time that happens. They will have to be completely replaced because they will be completely destroyed. The only damage by Andrew to conventional power generation was damage to one smokestack at one power plant.
I’m glad we are getting more and more photos of these failures. Wyoming is supposed to be the “wind capital” of the US. No one seems to understand a 40mph Average means 80 miles an hour winds some days, none on others. It’s very common to have high wind warnings here with 40 mph sustained winds and gusts over 75. The toll that takes on turbines has to be very high, not to mention the cutout speed. This is a case of “more’s law” not applying….
Wait until it kills children or a farmer on the farm.
are we going to cancel the order of chocolate teapots now?
/sarc
Worst job on the planet this morning : erection engineer for this windmill company. If the bolts pulled out of concrete or simply failed,, regardless,, this will be a nightmare for the engineer and the company. Replacing anchoring bolts on all their machines may be very expensive, if it involves more than simply replacing them. Bolts are rated as to their ability to withstand stress. Substituting cheaper bolts or installing bolts that couldn’t handle the stress actually encountered (oops!) would be other possibilities .
It seems to have grown by 4 storeys after falling down. According to the article; “The £250,000 tower, which stood as tall as a six storey building, was hit by gale force gusts of 50mph.”
Oh, the subsidies …
(Still wiping away the tears).
“Given its, ahem, endurance, one wonders if the council will allow it to be reconstructed. I’m thinking no.”
YOU THINK???
http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/35-metre-wind-turbine-collapses-Bradworthy/story-17994623-detail/story.html
“Of greater concern is that Torridge District Council have recently approved the erection of a second turbine of the same size and manufacture at this location that would have been closer to the public road.”
“A number of similar turbines have been approved and erected locally and the safety of these turbines must now be questioned, together with that of the much larger ones that have also been approved but not yet built”
Don’t bet on it
Latitude says:
January 30, 2013 at 7:48 am
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I wonder whether the figure includes the costs involved in supply, transport, siting, and wiring into the grid, or whether it is simply the ex wharehouse cost. £1/2million sounds rather cheap to me, and accordingly I suspect that it is nothing like the real cost.
In addition to engineering problems there is lots of room for out right fraud in this industry as well
Attorney General Swanson sues wind-energy firm for bilking Minn. farmers
http://www.startribune.com/local/188368291.html?refer=y
arthur4563 says:
January 30, 2013 at 10:57 am
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Obviously, investigation is required to find out the reason for the collapse. But you are right that a review of all similarly secured windmills will need to be carried out and renewals carried out as required..
I was involved with a ship that specialised in carrying heavy lift cargoes (up to about 850 tonnes). On her maiden voyage, one of the crane hooks failed. All the hooks on all the sister ships, as well as other ships using the same cranes/hook batch had to be replaced. All told, even not taking into account downtime, it was very expensive.
Attorney General Swanson sues wind-energy firm for bilking Minn. farmers
http://www.startribune.com/local/188368291.html?refer=y