by: Whitney Burney
Posted: Aug 1, 2019 / 05:28 PM EDT / Updated: Aug 1, 2019 / 06:51 PM EDT
HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Wind turbines in Helder Park in Holland Township are being torn down.
The city of Zeeland built the turbines in 2009 in an effort to use more sustainable energy.
The turbines were placed outside the city limits due to zoning issues. The park was chosen by engineers who believed it was the best place to generate wind.
It cost the city about $457,000. Right after the turbines went up, the city says things went downhill.
An Aug. 1, 2019 photo shows crews working to remove wind turbines from Helder Park in Zeeland.
“Shortly after that, the manufacturer of those units went out of business,” said Andrew Boatright with the city’s public works department.
Boatright says it made finding parts to repair the turbines nearly impossible and incredibly costly.
“The maintenance issues were a big problem. In 2014, there was a significant period of no operation,” Boatright added. “It just got to a point where they became a maintenance concern and a safety hazard.”
Boatright says there was an instance where break tips fell off one of the turbines and landed in a nearby field.
He says on top of safety and maintenance concerns — the turbines were barely generating energy.
Over a 20-year period, the turbines were expected to create enough energy to pay off the almost half-million dollars used to build them. At the near halfway mark, it’s not even close to that goal, Boatright said.
HT/Rick
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Robert of Texas,
Scary thought, doubling down on stupid wind. Good chance it will happen for at least another decade/$500 billion. It’ll need to get as bad as it is in Germany (electricity costs nearly doubled) before the voters start resisting.
And there was I, enjoying a moment of celebration thinking that they were talking about New Zealand! While we are often running a little behind more technologically-advanced countries, I wish that we could run a bit further behind, to benefit from the disasters many are experiencing with these windmills. Marvelous examples of engineering ingenuity perhaps, but undoubtedly suffering from the difficulties of carrying out sufficient full-scale proving trials before quantity manufacture? Perhaps these things are a result of too many companies allowing accountants to have more influence than engineers.
Chinese are big in the wind farms, Gansu Wind Farm, when completed it will have up to 7,000 wind turbines, while in the USA Roscoe Wind Farm, Texas has only 630.
UK has the world’s largest offshore setup with 175 turbines (85m above surface, 120m radius) built at the Thames estuary at cost of US$ 5 billion.
We motorsailed past that Thames estuary offshore wind farm a couple of years ago and I shot the most boring video imaginable of the vast majority of them doing nothing at all. Then I just missed videoing an unintentionally rather beautiful moment as a zephyr of wind briefly set a long line of them in motion. The arms slowly began to turn in sequence down the line as the wind picked up for a moment, just like one of those scenes from an Esther Williams movie.
at least, there is no risk of radiation … ask the cost of dismantling nuclear power !
“Shortly after that, the manufacturer of those units went out of business,” said Andrew Boatright with the city’s public works department.
Boatright says it made finding parts to repair the turbines nearly impossible and incredibly costly.”
Can you say scam? I know that you can! It’s easy. Just put your lips together and say it!
Scam?
As I mention in a comment elsewhere, I feel this is less a scam and more a complete lack of understanding of the industry.
I would hazard that the OEM got into the industry based on the pie in the sky dreams being promoted by the ‘Renewables Movement’. They then got out of the industry, possibly because it was harder than they assumed, possibly because they were a small fish building small turbines when the trend was for bigger and bigger units, possibly because they never intended to be a long term player and were only in it for the quick money.
The customer got into wind because everyone was telling them that Green was the new black, because it was inevitable, because wind power was free and would pay for itself in the first two years. What they didn’t understand was a wind turbine is not like owning a bus for the local community route where all you need to do is put air in the tires, fuel in the tank and take it in for a several every 5,000km. A wind turbine is a complex system with very awkward maintaining requirements (at best you need a long ladder and a Working From Heights permit) and sparable items with very long lead times. To mix a metaphor, a windfarm is for life, not just for Christmas, and the new owners are now discovering their new puppy needs constant walks, brushing and is inclined to eat expensive furniture.
To mix another metaphor, when life gives you lemons, make sure you also pay for the glass pitcher, the ice tray, the knife and juicer or you are going to be stuck with slowly rotting citrus fruits you have no use for.
To me both the OEM and the customer got into an industry they failed to research or understand properly, and if anyone deserves the ‘SCAM’ label then it is the Social Elite telling us the world is ending.
(from the article…)
” “Shortly after that, the manufacturer of those units went out of business,” said Andrew Boatright with the city’s public works department.
Boatright says it made finding parts to repair the turbines nearly impossible and incredibly costly. ”
Reading between the lines this public works department stepped out of their field of expertise and got completely burnt. I speculate that they looked at the buy cost of the units and completely skimmed over the through life support, assuming in their innocence that wind turbines are just like any other piece of equipment where you take them in of a service once a year.
In my industry selling the customer equipment is a Good Thing, but the real icing on the cake from a business point of view is then also winning the Through Life Support contract, because that is where all the money really is if you are a serious engineering company with long term plans.
Seems to me that the company who installed the turbines weren’t interested (or where unable) and the customer was not even aware of the requirements, perhaps assuming any problems would just be standard warranty type claims.
More fool them I say. They would have probably been better off environmentally, financially and from a power supply aspect by simply buying a couple of gen sets and using the left over money to plant a couple of thousand trees.
Take it from someone who knows: Managers, engineers, financiers, attorneys and the like should never step outside their areas of specific expertise. And never, never, never and never trust a vendor’s estimates. The disastrous examples of people, especially petty bureaucrats and politicians, doing such are legion. It is usually others that are forced to pick up after them.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. There are reasons that no responsible entity has independently financed “renewables.”
“Over a 20-year period, the turbines were expected to create enough energy to pay off the almost half-million dollars used to build them. At the near halfway mark, it’s not even close to that goal…” You don’t need to be an economist or a rocket scientist to know the basic reasons for justifying wind energy are bogus. Yet we’ll still keep subsidizing them.
It takes 20 years to pay back your investment in current (then) dollars, using optimistic projections, on a 15-year (at best) project life. I have a bridge to sell you.
“The park was chosen by engineers who believed it was the best place to generate wind.”
I thought the idea was to generate power.
U of Illinois Urbanna did a paper investigating “…Geared turbofan engine technology, magnetically leviated bearings and continuously variable transmissions…”.
Wind Turbine “drives” could be made to last 20 years, no problem just send money. But the Production Tax Credit only lasts 10 years so if the turbine holds together that long, “mission accomplished”. My limited findings suggest that the original wind developer typically sells their asset to a Utility after 10 years for $0.10 ion the dollar and everybody is happy (except the taxpayers who has to make up for the revenue loss to the Treasury gifted to the wind investor by our clueless and or corrupt government.
Illic ‘unus natus perparvis.
We’re twice as smart as the people of Shelbyville, just tell us your idea and we’ll vote for it.
Interesting site: innocentive.com. They ask solutions for mainly industrial technical or logistical challenges. Prizes to be won.
A few month ago one of the challenges was to make proposals for the safe and envirofriendly dismantling of windturbines at the end of their productive life (whatever that is). Would you believe it? Clearly they don’t or didn’t know what to do with the leftovers.
My solution: don’t build them in the first place.
“My solution: don’t build them in the first place.”
That’s the best solution of all. Windmills raise electricity prices to consumers, are harmful to the environment, and are completely unnecessary.
If windmill subsidies went away, then windmills would go away, because they are not economically viable without subsidies. Even if they were economically viable they should go away, because that doesn’t offset the harm they do.
Dyson! Maybe Dyson can come up with a bladeless wind turbine…
Calling Ron Popeil and his direct response marketing company Ronco……it slices, it dices…..
I find this interesting as I used to drive by these going home from work every day. I do not recall them moving all that much.
Short article from 2009 describing the pilot program of installing these 2 turbines that were taken down:
https://www.hollandsentinel.com/article/20090314/NEWS/303149894
Here in South Australia the windmill State it seems we live in interesting times again-
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/wind-farms-are-being-taken-to-court-over-sas-blackout-e2-80-94-how-did-we-get-here/ar-AAFsxq3
Get in the popcorn.
The debate over wind turbine bearings need not take place.
Wind turbines do not produce 50/60Hz energy.
They are useless and were only built for the subsidies.
Wind turbines are a scam.