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.
benfrommo says:
January 30, 2013 at 9:33 am
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The UK countryside will in 10 years time be littered with rusty/decaying windmills. One only has to look at california to see what will happen.
The energy companies will not have money to pay for decommissioning since if for no other reason they will be having to build a lot of conventional (or perhaps nuclear) power stations, and the economy has tanked and there will not be a significant recovery for more than a decade.
There is no spare tax payer cash for decommissioning and once the subsidies are scaled back as they undoubtedly will be, and once the energy company has made its quick buck, it will simply abandon them to their fate.
Mayhaps the gentle knight from La Mancha has gone dragonhunting in foreign lands ?
Thank goodness! I thought those bird choppers would stand for years, decaying oh-so-slowly. Turns out all we need is a windy day – problem solved! 🙂
cui bono says:
January 30, 2013 at 8:56 am
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Off shore maintenance will be a nightmare.
The safety issues surrounding working in a windswept sea environment are far more substantial. There will be many more accidents, which eventually will lead to stringent H&S requirement which will mean that maintenance can only be conducted during prolonged periods of good weather. This will mean that faulty windmills will have long periods of downtime and there will be substantial standby charges pertaining to supply ships and workers standing idly by waiting for breaks in the weather.
The government has very much underestimated the wear and tear of extreme sea environments and the difficulties and expense in servicing and maintenance. Unfortunately, it will be the tax payer and consumer that will have to pay the price for all this madness and government incompetence.
The Endurance E-3120 wind turbine is American/Canadian. It was designed years ago as a cheap wind turbine, of downwind design so it didn’t need motors to keep it facing into the wind, It was meant to be built in remote locations, because less maintenance would be needed and because the downwind design is inherently very noisy. It is now being widely deployed on farms in the UK because of its cheapness. When you buy a cheap outdated design, you expect failures. When you have cowboy developers involved in the process, you get what you pay for.
Richard Verney; One of these turbines costs about £270k in the UK including planning permission. Without massive subsidies that initial cost would never be repaid.
Not “robust”. “go bust”
For a building structure in open countryside the design wind speed should be approx 110 miles per hour. If we take into account that this is a cylindrycal tower I consider it should be designed for a wind speed in excess of 150 mph if not more. I am trying to keep this simple so just remember the wind speed converts directly to force.
For the ulltimate limit state of collapse a rough factor of safety would be three.
Thus the tower should be designed for a wind speed of 450 mph, remember wind speed converts to force.
On the table above it says the survival wind force is 115mph, so lets assume they have a factor of safety of three on this. So the tower at the ultimate limit state could stand a wind force of 345 mph and would therefore fail if my figures are correct?
Now if the wind speed was 50 mph and Factor of Safety is three the ultimate limit state for collapse would be a wind force of 150mph.
Thus the tower has been underdesigned by 300%. Assuming the collapse is not down to extremely bad workmanship.
The moral of this story is that wind turbines are not just a danger to birds and bats but also to humans.
Apologies for not converting wind speed to forces but its easily done 🙂
Sorry I should have added that if the Health and Safety Executive are not running around like headless chickens over this I want to know now? (Pun Intended 🙂 )
Stonyground says:
I remember reading a book called ‘Windpower Workshop’ by a guy who made a living building wind generators for dwellings that were so remote that it was not economically viable to connect them to the grid. His turbines were made from very basic materials, the generator itself was made from the hub and brake drum of a truck. The thing about the book was that it was very realistic and pragmatic about the practicalities of wind power. In a remote place, gas, oil or solid fuel can be used for heating and cooking, the wind turbine provides lighting, runs the fridge and freezer, the computer and the TV. For the benefit of anyone who was connected to the grid but thought that a turbine would save them money, it was emphasised in the book that the bank of batteries needed to store the power would have a finite life and the cost of replacing them every five years or so would outweigh any savings in your electricity bill.
The lesson that I gained from reading the book was that windpower can be useful in very specific circumstances. Outside those specific circumstances, it is a total waste of time.
{ Chris Beal says:
January 30, 2013 at 7:51 am
“The bolts on the base could not withstand the wind ”
It seems they used cheap China steel bolts made from cars after the cash for clunkers program in the usa? }
Excellent. A part of my old ’81 Jeep Cherokee festoons the UK landscape. Exceptional. My wife said it looked like hell in the driveway. No need for thanks to us Yanks.
{ Phillip Bratby says:
January 30, 2013 at 11:34 am
The Endurance E-3120 wind turbine is American/Canadian……… When you buy a cheap outdated design, you expect failures. When you have cowboy developers involved in the process, you get what you pay for. }
Just about time you paid us back for financing WWII.
Thanks.
There is a write-up on my web page http://whynotwind.org/Thea.htm
This is the experience of one person living off-grid in a remote, very cold very windy area. It is not necessarily representative of all wind set-ups. Her neighbor had a small wind turbine fly apart in the wind a couple of years ago. Luckily, it was still under warranty. Burned out controllers on home setups are common in her area. Since this area is no where near the grid, wind, solar or generator are the only options for electricity.
So, they have a lifespan of 25 years. Hah! I’ve been scratching my head trying to understand how they work out that the EROEI of onshore windfarms are as high as 15:1. Why does it take such a large subsidy to get them built, I wondered, if the EROEI is comparable with most fossil fuels.
I think its because the people making these investment decisions, laugh up their sleeves at the 25 year figure, and assume something much lower. Not quite this low, however.
John
You are a relatively close neighbour, I am from south Devon
The link was interesting but I am still unble to calculate the depth of concrete for every 10 metre height of turbine. Also does anyone know what it actually means when a wind co says, ” this installation will provide the power for 500 houses,”
Does this mean, the heating, cooker, hot water, washing machine etc or does it relate primarily to the tv , lights and other low powered appliances?
Tonyb
Maybe they were trying out a new form of ‘carbon capture’?
If it falls on your head they have caught a ‘carbon lifeform’.
Five Year Warranty
Endurance offers one of the best warranties in the wind industry, covering all defective components and labor for five years.
So the profit just got turned up on that wind turbine. By chopping it up and selling it for parts/scraps!
Since when is 50mph gust gale force ?? Must be different in the Northern Hemisphere. Down here 50mp is a relatively strong wind but hardly gale force.
cui bono says:
January 30, 2013 at 8:56 am
…Meanwhile: http://www.windbyte.co.uk/safety.html (nice photos of destroyed turbines)…
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OMG – so many! I had no idea. You were right about the nice photos. Frantastic pics of burning and broken turbines. Thanks for that link, Cui bono.
At least if a strong wind blows down a few telephone poles it doesn’t also take out the power plant.
And that a wind turbine can’t handle the wind ….
Unprecedented! It’s worse than we thought.
Atlantic city NJ has 5 or 6 turbines running their sewage treatment plant for the city. Not sure how they did after hurricane Sandy hit the area with 100 mph winds.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey-Atlantic_Wind_Farm
http://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8&q=atlantic+city+wind+turbines#miuv=1
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I don’t know about answers but turbines sure blow!
Little pigs, Little pits, let me in!
Not by the hair of our chinny chin-chin! (must be unshaven academics).
Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your ecopowerhouse down!
I always thought advocates windpower were swine using strawman arguments.
It does end up being a child’s fairy-tale.
And they complain about the big bad oil-sponsored wolf-PAC.