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WIND TURBINE SAFETY
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General articles on turbine safety
Ice throw
Local Accidents.
Some UK Accidents.
Accidents in other countries.
COMPLACENCY AND
COVER UP
Wind turbine accidents, You Tube.
While few would contend that turbines are a major
threat to public safety (most deaths and injuries are
suffered by those transporting, erecting and
maintaining turbines), the wind industry is marked
by both a reluctance to admit to accidents and a
tendency to cover up the failings of the technology.
1

In 2011 RenewableUK admitted that there had been over
1,500 reported accidents/incidents in the UK in the
previous five years, some of which resulted in deaths and
serious injuries.
There is no requirement for accidents which do not cause
death or injury to be reported. A Minister recently
confirmed that, Neither DECC, nor the Health and Safety
Executive (HSE), collect specific data for wind turbine
accidents.
2
Most accidents are not noticed unless
damage is spotted by the public and the press report it.
Examples of industry cover-ups abound.
The wind industry always tries to play down the frequency
of turbine accidents: for example, in Cornwall in
2006, Part of a wind turbine blade weighing more than
half a ton snapped off and crashed into a field during high
winds. Operators Cumbria Windfarms said the site has
been running since April 1993 and nothing like this had
happened there before. It had, as several locals pointed
out: in 1993, a month after the turbine park opened, they
had had a similar accident.
Then we had a spokesperson for Scottish Power quoted as
saying of a blade accident at Whitelee, This is a highly
unusual situation. I've not heard of this kind of incident
happening in 30 years.
3

This may fool some of the public, but, as is evident from
this page, blade failures are fairly common and there
were several instances just in the North East and Borders
when only a handful of turbines were operating in the
area.
The Danes are rather more honest. The Technical
Approval Authority at the Ris National Laboratory
revealed in 2008 that they had recorded the collapse of
15 turbines in the previous three years.
4

A Dutch company whose core business is blade repair
admits that, Rotor blade lightning damage is a common
problem..
5

-------------------------
1
Written answer, 23 April 2013, (HC Deb, 23 April 2013,
c849W).
2
Caithness Windfarm Information Forum has some data
on UK turbine accidents.
3
See article below.
4
The Engineer, 26 February 2008.
5
NGup Rotor Blades.



German turbine fire.
SEND US YOUR BURNOUTS, WE
ACCEPT TRADE-INS (Generator
Manufacturer's Slogan)


Turbine fires are nearly as common as blade
accidents, which is no great surprise when you
consider that turbines have a combination of large
volumes of lubricants, highly stressed bearings and
electrical generating sets - brought together at the
top of a very high lightning conductor.
Modern turbines are too high for fire fighters to use ladder
equipment. Unless firefighting helicopters are available,
turbines are normally left to burn out, burning off large
quantities of oil, plastics and other noxious materials in
the process.

Catastrophic Danish turbine accident, Live Leak video (22.02.08).
SAFE SEPARATION DISTANCES
The propensity of very large industrial wind
turbines to catch fire, shed blades or bits thereof,
throw ice and, occasionally, to suffer catastrophic,
high speed blade failures followed by a tower
collapse leads sensible people to question their
construction close to houses or transport routes.
The world wide problem of turbine noise nuisance also
underlines the need for sensible separation distances.
Other countries have acted on that conclusion. In
Scotland there is planning guidance (SPP 6, Renewables)
which suggests a 2 kilometre separation distance. Similar
separation distances have been put in place in other
countries, in Europe, parts of Australia, Canada and the
US.
Nothing so sensible exists in England and Wales. If
anything, things have got worse. In the 1990s the DTI
was suggesting a 450m separation distance for turbines
that then were a maximum of 60m high. Now, with 125m
turbines the norm, and turbines of up to 200m being built
in France and Germany, there is no suggested cordon
sanitaire and we are entirely at the mercy of developers
and the haphazard decisions of local planning authorities,
many of which have little experience or understanding of
wind turbines.
Road and Rail
The Highways Agency recognises the risks but fails
entirely to recommend a separation distance which would
protect road or rail users from a turbine accident:
Consideration of the risks associated with
structural failure and icing identifies the
clear need to incorporate a safety margin
in the offset between the trunk road
boundary and the siting of a wind turbine.
Therefore, it is appropriate to achieve a
set-back from the nearest highway
boundary equal in distance to their height
+ 10% for micro and small turbines.
Commercial turbines should be set back a
distance equal to their height + 50
metres. (Network Services, Spatial
Planning Advice Note: SP 12/09, Planning
applications for wind turbines sited near
to trunk roads, 13).
As is evident from accident reports on this page and
academic studies of blade throw, large turbines can throw
very large blades, or pieces thereof, weighing many
tonnes, for hundreds of metres.
Noise
The industry routinely proposes building 100-140m
turbines within 500m of housing although they are well
aware of the noise problems with large turbines.
A STANDARD PRECAUTIONARY
MEASURE

Images and video available on EPAW website.
As a standard precautionary measure, all Infinis staff vacate wind farms when wind speeds exceed 55
mph and therefore no one was present on site at the time of the incident, (Press release from Infinis
regarding the Ardrossen wind farm fire, 8 December 2011).
That must be a comfort to neighbouring members of the
public.
TWO FACES OF THE WIND
INDUSTRY:
THE SPIN:
Fancy a fun-filled family
day out at your local wind
farm this Bank Holiday
Weekend?
This August Bank Holiday (27/28 August),
on the last weekend before schools go
back, families across the UK will be able
to visit a working wind farm and touch a
turbine as part of the first ever,
simultaneous nationwide opening of wind
farms and all for FREE. (BWEA Press
release).
INDUSTRY WARNINGS:
Turbine operating manuals and site noticeboards
tell a different story:

Vestas, Mechanical Operating and Maintenance Manual, V90 3.0 MW (29.06.2007).

Crystal Rig warning sign.
2008 Don Brownlow Photography.
THE DTI REACTS
The BWEAs irresponsibility in encouraging
thousands of children to touch electricity
generators, and Powergens [now E.ON UK] equally
notorious Hug a turbine TV advertising campaign,
eventually caused such an outcry that the wind
industrys friends at the DTI were forced to issue a
warning:
We would not normally advise any
member of the public to make contact
with installations being used for the
supply of electricity, said a DTI
spokesman. Though the risks to the
public from wind turbines are minimal
they are large industrial structures and it
is sensible to take precautions.
(Warning: don't hug a wind turbine, The
Times, 28 May, 2006).
Apparently PR trumps common sense. Wind power
station operators continue to ignore safety advice
from their own industry and the government:
There was a range of childrens craft
activities which included making wind
chimes, wind socks and there was the
opportunity to leave your hand print
on one of the turbines [our emphasis].
(Duns nursery benefits from Black Hill
wind farm cash, Berwickshire News, 9
June 2010. Article refers to wind industry
open day event).
Can you imagine the outcry there would be in
parliament and the press if children were invited to
leave handprints on electrical transformers?
WUTHERING HEIGHTS -
THE DANGERS OF WIND
POWER


Spiegel Online, August 20, 2007.
Wind turbines continue to multiply the world over.
But as they grow bigger and bigger, the number of
dangerous accidents is climbing. How safe is wind
energy?
After the industry's recent boom years, wind power
providers and experts are now concerned. The facilities
may not be as reliable and durable as producers claim.
Indeed, with thousands of mishaps, breakdowns and
accidents having been reported in recent years, the
difficulties seem to be mounting. Gearboxes hiding inside
the casings perched on top of the towering masts have
short shelf lives, often crapping out before even five years
is up. In some cases, fractures form along the rotors, or
even in the foundation, after only limited operation. Short
circuits or overheated propellers have been known to
cause fires. All this despite manufacturers' promises that
the turbines would last at least 20 years.
Gearboxes have already had to be replaced in large
numbers, the German Insurance Association is now
complaining. In addition to generators and gearboxes,
rotor blades also often display defects, a report on the
technical shortcomings of wind turbines claims. The
insurance companies are complaining of problems ranging
from those caused by improper storage to dangerous
cracks and fractures.
[...]
Wind power expert Martin Stckl knows the problems all
too well. The Bavarian travels some 80,000 kilometers
(49,710 miles) across Germany every year, but he is only
rarely able to help the wind farmers. It is not just the
rotors that, due to enormous worldwide demand, take
forever to deliver, but simple replacement parts are
likewise nowhere to be found. You often have to wait 18
months for a new rotor mount, which means the turbine
stands still for that long, says Stckl.
Sales Top, Service Flop is the headline on a recent
cover story which appeared in the industry journal
Erneuerbare Energien. The story reports the disastrous
results of a questionnaire passed out to members of the
German WindEnergy Association asking them to rank
manufacturers. Only Enercon, based in Germany,
managed a ranking of good. The company produces
wind turbines without gearboxes, eliminating one of the
weakest links in the chain.
Even among insurers, who raced into the new market in
the 1990s, wind power is now considered a risky sector.
Industry giant Allianz was faced with around a thousand
damage claims in 2006 alone. Jan Pohl, who works for
Allianz in Munich, has calculated that on average an
operator has to expect damage to his facility every four
years, not including malfunctions and uninsured
breakdowns.
Many insurance companies have learned their lessons and
are now writing maintenance requirements -- requiring
wind farmers to replace vulnerable components such as
gearboxes every five years -- directly into their contracts.
But a gearbox replacement can cost up to 10 percent of
the original construction price tag, enough to cut deep
into anticipated profits. Indeed, many investors may be in
for a nasty surprise. Between 3,000 and 4,000 older
facilities are currently due for new insurance policies,
says Holger Martsfeld, head of technical insurance at
Germany's leading wind turbine insurer Gothaer. We
know that many of these facilities have flaws.
Flaws And Dangers
And the technical hitches are not without their dangers.
For example:
In December of last year, fragments of a broken
rotor blade landed on a road shortly before rush
hour traffic near the city of Trier.
Two wind turbines caught fire near Osnabrck
and in the Havelland region in January. The
firefighters could only watch: Their ladders were
not tall enough to reach the burning casings.
The same month, a 70-meter (230-foot) tall wind
turbine folded in half in Schleswig-Holstein --
right next to a highway.
The rotor blades of a wind turbine in Brandenburg
ripped off at a height of 100 meters (328 feet).
Fragments of the rotors stuck into a grain field
near a road.
At the Allianz Technology Center (AZT) in Munich, the
bits and pieces from wind turbine meltdowns are closely
examined. The force that comes to bear on the rotors is
much greater than originally expected, says AZT
evaluator Erwin Bauer. Wind speed is simply not
consistent enough, he points out. There are gusts and
direction changes all the time, he says.
But instead of working to create more efficient
technology, many manufacturers have simply elected to
build even larger rotor blades, Bauer adds. Large
machines may have great capacity, but the strains they
are subject to are even harder to control, he says.
Even the technically basic concrete foundations are
suffering from those strains. Vibrations and load changes
cause fractures, water seeps into the cracks, and the
rebar begins to rust. Repairs are difficult. You can't look
inside concrete, says Marc Gutermann, a professor for
experimental statics in Bremen.It's no use just closing
the cracks from above.
The engineering expert suspects construction errors are
to blame. The facilities keep getting bigger, he
says, but the diameter of the masts has to remain the
same because otherwise they would be too big to
transport on the roadways.
Not Sufficiently Resilient
Still the wind power business is focusing on replacing
smaller facilities with ever larger ones. With all the best
sites already taken, boosting size is one of the few ways
left to boost output. On land at least. So far, there are no
offshore wind parks in German waters, a situation that
Minister Gabriel hopes to change. He wants offshore wind
farms to produce a total of 25,000 megawatts by 2030.
Perhaps by then, the lessons learned on land will ward off
disaster at sea. Many constructors of such offshore
facilities in other countries have run into difficulties.
Danish company and world market leader Vestas, for
example, had to remove the turbines from an entire wind
park along Denmark's western coast in 2004 because the
turbines were not sufficiently resilient to withstand the
local sea and weather conditions. Similar problems were
encountered off the British coast in 2005.
German wind turbine giant Enercon, for its part,
considers the risks associated with offshore wind power
generation too great, Enercon spokesman Andreas Dser
says. While the growth potential is tempting, he says, the
company does not want to lose its good standing on the
high seas.
FIRES ARE MAJOR CAUSE
OF WIND FARM FAILURE,
ACCORDING TO NEW
RESEARCH
Imperial College, 17 July, 2014
Fire is the second leading cause of accidents in wind
turbines, after blade failure, according to research out
today.
Wind farming is one of the leading industries in the
renewable energy sector. However, the industry faces a
number of challenges, such as opposition by wind farm
lobbyists. Todays research suggests that incidents of
wind turbines catching fire are a big problem that is not
currently being fully reported.
Researchers from Imperial College London, the University
of Edinburgh and SP Technical Research Institute of
Sweden carried out a global assessment of the worlds
wind farms, which in total contain an estimated 200,000
turbines. The team found that ten times more fires are
happening than are being reported.
[...]
SAFETY FEARS AFTER
FAULTS FOUND IN
TOPPLED TURBINES
Western Morning News, 7 September, 2014.
Safety concerns have been raised about the wind energy
industry after reports showed two Westcountry turbines
collapsed because of faults.
The giant masts crashed down on farmland amid initial
rumours of sabotage and claims they had fallen victim to
severe weather.
Documents obtained by the WMN on Sunday have
revealed that the towers actually toppled over due to
defects and mistakes in the construction process.
A 115ft (34 metre) mast at East Ash Farm, Bradworthy,
in Devon, tumbled in January 2013, prompting claims of
foul play from the local parish council.
Around the same time, a 60ft (18-metre) tower sited at
Winsdon Farm, North Petherwin the family farm of
Liberal Democrat Cornwall Councillor Adam Paynter - also
came loose from its moorings and fell.
Subsequent investigations by both manufacturers
identified further defects and prompted warnings to other
sites, including in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
Glasgow-based Gaia Wind wrote to owners and
overhauled its entire first generation fleet.
Canadian firm Endurance Wind Power said it was also
concerned about machines on dozens of locations.
[...]
WIND TURBINE GEARBOX
FAILURES - THE
ONGOING PROBLEM
It has long been known that wind turbine gearbox, and
associated bearing, problems have been, and continue, to
be a major problem, with gearboxes often failing only a
few years into the expected operating life of the turbine.
This is especially the case in the offshore industry where
there have been large-scale gearbox and bearing
problems in even relatively recent installations.
This long running problem is so serious that since 2007,
the US Government has been coordinating research into it
through the The National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL),a national laboratory of the US Department of
Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.
---------------------------
NREL, Gearbox Reliability Collaborative Project Report,
2011 (PDF download).
MORE DISASTERS AT SEA
BY WIND TURBINES
NL Times.nl, 11 November, 2013.
The Coast Guard fears more accidents if the number of
wind farms along the coast is increased. The North Sea is
already one of the busiest seas in the world. If the plans
for building even more wind turbines are realized, the
chances of accidents will increase, according to Ed Veen,
director of the Dutch Coast Guard.
Ships are already cramped on the increasingly crowded
North Sea. By a growing number of wind turbines, they
have to do with even less space. Each obstacle increases
the risk of conflict. Veen points to the 100 to 150 ships
that become rudderless annually in the North Sea to
illustrate the dangers. If only one of those drifts into a
wind farm it would cause an incident like the one with the
cruise ship Costa Concordia, which cost the Italian state a
billion Euros, according to the Coast Guard Director.
[...]
HORSES SPOOKED BY
SMALL WIND TURBINE AT
SHOW
The wind industry loudly disputes that turbines frighten
horses. This view has been very publically disproved by
incidents involving horses being scared by wind turbines,
most recently at the Pembrokeshire County Show:
County Show riders
express turbine concerns
Western Telegraph, 25 August, 2012.
SEVERAL incidents involving horses being
scared by wind turbines on display in the
Pembrokeshire County Show ground have
led organisers to re-think their tradestand
layout for next year.
Concerns were voiced by owners and
riders after their horses reacted to the
spinning of a small turbine on a stand
near the shows collecting ring.
Among them was Dave Scourfield, whose
own equestrian establishment is set to be
in the shadow of Pembrokeshires largest
turbine on land near Ludchurch.
His wife, Isobel, was riding through the
walkway on her way to the ring when her
horse was spooked by the turbine. She
was thrown off, and he went galloping off
into the lorry park, where he fell and cut
his leg, said Mr Scourfield. This really
proves the point that turbines and horses
just dont mix. This accident could have
been avoided if the show organisers had
used a bit of common sense and not put
the turbine so very close to the horse
area.
Sarah Whitfield of Penskyber Livery Yard,
Letterston, was working a childs pony in
the collecting ring when it span around,
frightened by the turbines movement.
I managed to stay on, but if a little child
had been riding the pony, there could
have been a nasty accident, she said.
One of her four-year-old hunters also
reared up and bucked when he caught
sight of the turbine, she added.
[...]
SPINNING TO
DESTRUCTION
Wind power may be one of the cleaner, greener
energy sources available, but turbine and blade
failures point to dangers that were not anticipated,
says Michael Connellan
The Guardian, 4 September 2008
David Campbell and his family were asleep in their
farmhouse in Northern Ireland when the 16-foot blade
from the wind turbine crashed through the roof of his
home one windy night in January last year. It was like a
bomb hitting the roof, he told the Belfast Telegraph. It
shattered the tiles and the blade disintegrated itself.
Campbell was not the only person to see the direct
effects of a turbine failure. Just over a year later, in
February, a 200ft Vestas wind turbine near the Danish
city of rhus disintegrated spectacularly in high winds
when a blade came loose and smashed into the central
tower, causing the whole structure to collapse. The
incident was captured on video camera and footage has
been viewed thousands of times on YouTube.
Just two days later a turbine close to the town of Sidinge,
in Denmark, sent a blade flying more than 300ft before it
hit the ground. Keld Boye, a farmer whose land is near
the structure, told Danish television: I drive my tractor
and my wife rides horses out there. Just think if we'd
been out there when it happened.
After Denmarks climate minister demanded an
investigation, authorities found the blade loss was caused
by a lack of maintenance: regular checks on bolts in the
turbine had been neglected. The Danish government
announced mandatory service checks for every one of the
5,000 wind turbines in the country.
Cracking up
Turbines in Britain - there are 2,000, almost all of which
are onshore - arent immune from failure. A 200ft turbine
at a wind farm in Kintyre collapsed last November in a
50mph wind. Following that, 26 wind turbines across
Scotland were shut down as a precautionary measure
while the broken structure was examined. Then the
following month in Cumbria, a 100ft steel turbine crashed
to the ground.
Six months later, in June, as concerns over the incidents
last year were receding, a blade cracked away from a
190ft turbine on a Sheffield University research park.
Police evacuated the area while engineers allowed the
30ft blade to fall to the ground. The turbine was made by
WES, a Dutch company. Earlier that month, the British
government had published its renewable energy strategy
- with plans to build around 4,000 new onshore wind
turbines.
[...]

Handy Green recycling advice

By kind permission,
Fenbeagle, Fenbeagleblog.
WIND INSURANCE CLAIM
ANALYSIS REVEALS NEED
FOR MONITORING
Renewable Energy World,6 Augyst, 2013.
LONDON -- Claims for blade damage and gearbox failure
top the table for U.S. insurance payouts, according to a
new analysis from GCube.
Using data based on reported claims in the U.S. for 2012,
the analysis shows that blade damage and gearbox failure
account for the greatest number of losses accounting
for 41.4 percent and 35.1 percent of the total claims
reported, respectively.
Meanwhile, damage to generators (10.2 percent) and
transformers (5.1 percent) ranked third and fourth in the
report, with damaged to foundations coming in fifth in
terms of claims volumes.
Although the majority of wind turbine blade damage can
be attributed to lightning strikes, delamination and
improper handling during the construction and installation
phase are also frequent and need to be addressed.
[...]
60% OF TURBINES MAY BE
BEHIND IN CRITICAL
MAINTENANCE
Windtech International, Monday, 04 August 2008.
Frontier Pro Services of Banning, California
conducted an informal survey of approximately 75
wind farm operators in the United States.
Designed to assess the specific operation and
maintenance service needs of wind energy operators, the
survey reveals potentially serious threats to wind farms
owing largely to the industry-wide shortage of qualified
turbine technicians. Many wind farm operations and
maintenance teams are so resource constrained that they
are barely able to keep up with the unscheduled
maintenance repairs their wind turbines require to
generate electricity. Even regular, scheduled
preventative-maintenance like oil changes and gearbox
lubrication (services that are often still under warranty)
are falling behind as manufacturers face similar resource
struggles related to the shortage of qualified technicians.
Gearbox failures account for the largest amount of
downtime, maintenance, and lose of power production.
These costly failures can total 15-20% of the price of the
turbine itself, making wind turbine and gearbox
maintenance a high priority. If oil is not properly
monitored and replaced as needed, bearing and gear
wear will lead to more serious and costly damage to the
drive train. When a US$ 1,500 bearing fails unnoticed, it
can lead to production loss and revenue loss including an
unscheduled replacement of a US$ 100,000 dollar
gearbox and a unscheduled crane cost of up to US$
70,000 to access the failed components.
ANOTHER TURBINE
MYTH SHATTERED


The wind industry claim that it is only scare-
mongering NIMBYs who say that ice throw from
wind turbines can endanger the public.

Local residents with ice from the Whittlesey turbine.
PeterboroughToday.co.uk
Wind turbine's deadly
ice shower
PeterboroughToday.co.uk, 2 December
2008
Residents were left fearing for their
safety after shards of melting ice fell
on homes and gardens from the
blades of a giant wind turbine. For
about four hours people in King's
Dyke, Whittlesey, had to take cover
as huge lumps some two feet long
showered them from the 80 metre
high tower on Saturday morning.
Resident Peter Randall, whose son's house
lies a stone's throw away from the
turbine, said: "Somebody is going to get
killed. There was huge lumps of ice
shooting off and landing everywhere.
No one wants to leave the house because
they are frightened and worried about the
ice falling.
My son's partner is pregnant and she is
now worried sick about her unborn baby.
Freezing overnight temperatures had
caused the ice to form and after frantic
calls to Truro-based firm Cornwall Light
and Power, which owns the turbine, the
2 million machine was eventually turned
off.
[...]
(See BBC News video).



ICE THROW - SOME RESEARCH
A model of ice throw trajectories from wind
turbines, Sumita Biswas, Peter Taylor & Jim Salmon,
Article first published online: 17 Nov. 2011. Wind
Energy, Volume 15, Issue 7, pages 889901,
October 2012. - A model of the trajectories of ice
fragments thrown from a rotating wind turbine blade
is used to estimate the ground impact locations that
could occur under different scenarios. Wind speed,
ejection position on the blade and turbine rotation
rate all play a role in determining the impact point,
as well as mass, density and drag coefficient of the
ice fragment. ... Although this may be a relatively
rare event, we provide an example where a 1kg
plate-like fragment could travel up to 350m from the
base of the turbine.
Ice Shedding and Ice Throw Risk and Mitigation,
GE Energy, 2006. (PDF download). , rotating
turbine blades may propel ice fragments some
distance from the turbine up to several hundred
meters if conditions are right.Falling ice may cause
damage to structures and vehicles, and injury to site
personnel and the general public, unless adequate
measures are put in place for protection.
Wind turbine ice throw studies in the Swiss Alps
Stefan Kunz, Alain Heimo, Gabriela Russi, Markus
Russi & Michael Tiefgraber. (PDF download), 2006.
(Small turbines with heated blades, ice-throw to
94m).
LOCAL PROBLEMS


SECOND LOCAL ACCIDENT WITH
HANNEVIND TURBINE
A second Hannevind turbine in the local area has suffered
a serious accident.
The 31m Hannevind turbine at Tillmouth Farm, near
Norham, north Northumberland, suffered a catastrophic
blade failure in February, with large pieces of blade falling
to the ground. It has now been dismantled and removed
from the site.
The turbine was sited next to a public footpath.

Don Brownlow Photography.
In December 2011, a 30.3m Hannevind turbine was
deliberately collapsed by its builder after suffering a
runaway brake failure in high winds, only two weeks after
it was commissioned (see below).
It was subsequently revealed by Maden Eco, the turbine
builders, that Hannevind had been declared bankrupt in
October 2011, shortly before the turbine was
commissioned.



FARM TURBINE DAMAGED IN
HIGH WINDS


Don Brownlow Photography
A blade has failed on a 71m farm turbine at Low Horton,
near Blyth.
Local people noticed on 18 April, 2013, that the twin-
bladed, French Vergnet turbine had suffered serious blade
damage.
The whole structure was subsequently lowered for
repairs.



WINGATES TRANSPORT
PROBLEMS



Following on from the major problems caused by an
overturned turbine transporter travelling to the Green
Rigg site, local people were surprised that the transport of
only six turbines to the Wingates site should again cause
problems. They experienced delays and diversions when
first a mobile crane skidded off the road, followed at a
later date by a transporter vehicle getting stuck trying to
negotiate a bend and hill.



Tony Patrick
MAJOR ROAD BLOCKED FOR 5
DAYS BY TURBINE TRANSPORTER
CRASH
Questions have continued to be raised about safety,
regulation and costs to the community of turbine
transport since the A696 was closed for a week
when a giant transporter carrying part of a wind
turbine tower crashed off the road at Raylees, near
Elsdon.
The transporter was part of a convoy carrying turbine
parts from Blyth to Green Rigg, near Ridsdale, where
Wind Prospect are building 18 Vestas V80 turbines for
French-owned EDF Energy. The transport route had been
designated as the A68, but was changed by the delegated
decision of a Northumberland County Council planning
officer after a transporter had grounded on the southern
section of the A68.
The Chinese-made tower section is 45m long (147ft) and
weighs 56 tonnes. It was eventually recovered on 31 May
and returned, this time with a substantial police escort, to
Blyth for inspection and repair.
Local people continue to query the suitability of this route
and why the crashed transporter apparently did not have
a proper police escort.
Meanwhile, businesses in Otterburn were left severely our
of pocket, losing thousands of pounds from loss of trade.
-------------------------
Operation to move wind turbine from A696 at
Otterburn, BBC News Video, 30 May, 2012.
Otterburn traders to seek compensation from wind farm
group, The Journal, 31 May, 2012.
Otterburn A696 ditch wind turbine is finally moved, The
Journal, 1 June, 2012.
I wont pay my rates till losses are recouped, The
Journal, 4 June, 2012.




COLDINGHAM TURBINE
COLLAPSED


Don Brownlow Photography.
A 30m turbine near Coldingham was deliberately
collapsed by its constructors, Maden Eco, after
going out of control on Wednesday, 7 December,
2011.
Lothian and Borders Police said the turbine suffered
brake system failure and had been freewheeling in
50mph winds.
Nearby houses had been evacuated and the A1107 shut.
The turbine had only been operational for a short time.
Simon Maden, MD of Maden Design and Build, said that
they had only recently been alerted to the fact that
Hannevind, the Swedish manufacturers of the turbine,
had gone out of business.
Update
According to a letter from Maden Design to an SBC officer
regarding an application for a replacement turbine, the
client, has suffered a total loss as a result of the
manufacturer ceasing trading (letter to SBC Officer, 6
March 2012).
-------------------------
Coldingham wind gusts see houses evacuated, BBC
News, 8 December, 2011.
Brake failure to blame for collapsing of wind
turbine, Berwickshire News, 15 December, 2011.



TAXPAYER COULD PICK UP BILL
FOR BROKEN TURBINES
Northumberland Gazette, 12 January, 2012.

Possible uses for Defras defective turbines
Jane Coltman, Northumberland Gazette
Wind turbines standing idle on the edge of Alnwick
will not be repaired by the manufacturers, it has
emerged, with the tax-payer likely having to foot
the bill to get them working again.
Town councillor Sue Allcroft has been chasing the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra) over the three generators at its flagship Lion
House, which have rarely turned since mid-2010 following
a worldwide recall of the that model the P35 by their
Scottish-based manufacturer, Proven Energy.
Proven finally went bust last September, but was sold by
receiver KPMG to Irish renewables firm Kingspan Wind.
However, Kingspans website states that all liabilities and
warranties for P35 turbines remain with KPMG, as they
did not form part of the buy-out deal.
[...]



CATASTROPHIC BLADE FAILURE
AT CRYSTAL RIG


BBC News Scotland story.
in April 2005, less than a year after the turbines
were commissioned, a 100m turbine at the Crystal
Rig in the Lammermuir Hills experienced a
catastrophic blade failure.
The 38.8m (127 ft) blade, weighing over 7 tons, broke up
at high speed in a gale, throwing debris for a considerable
distance.



NISSAN TURBINE FIRE


Nissan turbine fire 23 December, 2005. ( Northern Echo.)
A HUGE wind turbine [actually only 51m] went up in
smoke in a massive blaze seen for miles across Wearside.
The 200ft structure at the Nissan factory, part of a
2.3million wind farm built in August, burst into flames
just after 12.30pm yesterday.
The fire was so fierce all three 75-ft long fibreglass
blades eventually dropped off and thick black smoke could
be seen for miles around.
Almost 200 people dialled 999 to alert emergency crews
as flames engulfed the turbine.
Police closed both the A1231 and the A19 for an hour-
and-a-quarter amid worries that parts of the metal tower
could fall on to the busy roads.
(Read the full story: Northern Echo, 23 December, 2005)



BLYTH TURBINES NOT WORKING
FOR NEARLY THREE YEARS
The two Blyth offshore turbines, after an early
blade failure and cable fault, were out of service
from April 2006 until January 2009 due to damage
to a power cable on the seabed.
(Armour plan to save wind farm, The Journal, 5 July
2007).



WANSBECK HOSPITAL TURBINE
FAILS

The Journal
A Freedom of Information request by Windbyte in
2009 regarding output figures revealed that the
landmark Wansbeck Hospital wind turbine at
Ashington, Northumberland, had not been working
since 2007.
The small (33m) Vestas turbine in the hospital car park,
which was commissioned in 1992, was shut down after a
blade began to come apart. This is a fairly common
problem, even with newer 125m-plus wind turbines.
A statement from Northumbria Health Care Trust said
that: We have commissioned an external report which
will look into the feasability of repairing and re-
commissioning the turbine or, if not practical, the
alternative uses which the turbine may be put.
The trust could not reveal how much the turbine cost, as
it was included in the hospitals original capital costs.
The turbine has averaged 14.3% of its headline capacity
of 0.1MW since it was commissioned. The British Wind
Energy Association has long claimed that,Over the
course of a year, it [a modern wind turbine] will typically
generate about 30% of the theoretical maximum
output..
(Wansbeck General wind turbine produces no power for
two years, The Journal, 5 November 2009).
Update:
Northumbria Health Care Trust have announced
that the turbine cant be economically repaired and
will be removed.



KIRKHEATON TURBINES AT A
STANDSTILL FOR NEARLY TWO
YEARS
Two of the three 66.5m turbines at Kirkheaton,
which were put up less than 10 years ago, have not
operated since Autumn 2008 due to blade faults on
two of the turbines.
The turbines were supposed to be removed if they did not
operate for six months or longer, but EDF, the French
operating company, has been granted a second 12 month
variation on the planning conditions by Northumberland
County Council.
(Faulty Northumberland wind turbines could be taken
down, The Journal, 23 June 2009).

EXAMPLES OF UK
ACCIDENTS


Council blew cash on wind
turbines that dont work
Milton Keynes Citizen, 16 May, 2014.
Three costly wind turbines built in the grounds of a
school are now to be dismantled after allegedly
generating just 3.67 worth of electricity in NINE years.
Milton Keynes Council paid 170,000 for the giant
turbines at Oakgrove School at Middleton.
But shortly after the school opened in 2005, the
structures were switched off for health and safety reasons
due to a manufacturing defect.
A source told the Citizen: It all seems to be an
extraordinary waste of money. None of it is the fault of
the school itself theyve just been stuck with these huge
things that have proved useless.
The turbines were provided by a German company which
has since gone into liquidation, leaving the council unable
to get compensation.
But this week there was finally a sunny outcome to the
sad saga. The council has negotiated with another
contractor to remove the turbines for free and replace
them with solar panels.
[...]



Inquiry into death of man killed
when he fell 100ft down wind
turbine
STV, 14 May 2014.
A fatal accident inquiry is to be held into the death of a
man who was killed when he fell 100ft down the shaft of a
wind turbine.
Basilio Brazao, a 19-year-old Brazilian construction
worker, was working inside the turbine at the Earlsburn
wind farm near Fintry, Stirlingshire on May 22, 2007
when he fell.
The teenager, who lived in Dunbar, East Lothian, died
instantly and his body was later removed by fire crews.
In 2012, Manchester-based manufacturers Nordex UK
admitted a number of health and safety breaches on the
site.
[...]



Daily Post
Wind turbines in Anglesey burst into flame in the gale
force winds that hit North Wales.
The flaming turbines were described as giant Catherine
wheels after catching fire between 6pm and 7pm
yesterday [11 February, 2014] near Cemaes.
Emma Shortman, who lives nearby, said: I was letting
the dogs out and saw flickering blue and red sparks
coming from the hub of the turbine.
Then it lit up like a candle.
Mrs Shortman said another turbine caught fire on the
other side of her house 20 minutes later.
She said: Ive never seen it happen before. There were
sparks coming off the turbines. I was worried they might
set the other turbines on fire. After an hour, they seemed
to burn themselves out, but were still flickering as if they
might start again.
The hubs of the turbines are all burnt today, but they're
still spinning. If the wind picks up and the blades keep
spinning, I'm worried they could come off.
The fire service said it was called to three wind turbines
on fire in the area, but did not take any action at the
scene.
[...]



Turbine blade repaired after
lightning strike
Shetland Times, 18 December, 2013.
A lightning strike blasted a hole the size of a fist in one of
the blades of Burradale Windfarm turbine Betsy.
The turbine, a Vestas V52, was damaged on 5th
December when a section of the trailing edge was torn.
[...]



Wind turbine blade shears off
Whitehaven News, 12 December 2013
A blade that flew off a wind turbine into a field earmarked
for development could have killed someone, says a
Copeland councillor.
The high winds were so strong last Thursday that an arm
of the turbine at Seascale School flew off and landed 200
yards away in a field.
Concerned councillor David Moore said it was potentially
harmful particularly as outline permission was granted
six weeks ago by Copeland Council for 14 houses to be
built on the site where the blade landed.
[...]



Wind turbine brought down in
high winds in Devon
BBC News, 27 October 2013
A wind turbine has collapsed in strong winds which swept
across Devon on Saturday night.
No-one was reported injured after the 27m (89ft) high
turbine came down in a field at Higher Rixdale Farm at
Luton, near Teignmouth.
[...]



Crews deal with wind turbine on
fire
UTV, 2 July, 2013.
A wind turbine caught fire in Co Londonderry on Monday
evening.
It happened at the Glenconway Wind Farm on Baranailt
Road in Limavady at 9.30pm.
Local fire crews and the Specialist Rescue Team from
Belfast were called to deal with the substantial blaze,
which took hold of insulation material 130ft inside the
turbine.
[...]



Wind turbine blades 17 metres
long ripped off in high winds
Halifax Courier, 8 May, 2013.
Walkers had a narrow escape as blades on a wind turbine
ripped off in high winds across common moor land.
The 17m turbine blades split and scattered across
Ovenden Moor Wind Farm, Cold Edge Road, Wainstalls,
Halifax.
Walkers and local residents were stunned at what could
have been a nasty accident and fear for further blade
breakages.
[...]



Wind blade wrecked by lightning
strike
Cornish Guardian, 6 February, 2013
The blade of a wind turbine on the edge of Bodmin Moor
was being replaced this week after being shattered by a
lightning strike [5 weeks previously].
The turbine was one of two which provides power for the
Cornish Natural Spring Water Company which produces
five million bottles of water a year from an underground
lake at Treboy Farm, St Clether, and sells all over the
country.
[...]
It has also emerged that one of two 17m (55ft) 11kW
Gaia turbines installed at Winsdon Farm, North Petherwin
the family farm of Liberal Democrat Cornwall councillor
Adam Paynter was badly damaged during the recent
bad weather.
[...]



INQUIRY AFTER SECOND WIND
TURBINE TOPPLES IN WEST
COUNTRY
Western Morning News, 1 February, 2013.
Safety concerns have been raised over wind turbines and
a fresh investigation has now been launched after a
second tower was said to have been toppled during high
winds in Cornwall.
[...]



BLADES SNAP OFF BRUSSELTON
WIND TURBINE
Northern Echo, 29 January, 2013
BLADES from an 18m high wind turbine have snapped off
after a night of heavy rain and winds.
The turbine in a field near Bishop Auckland was built last
year after planning permission was granted in November,
2011.
The 18m high turbine, which had a blade diameter of
16m, was in a field between Brusselton Lane and the A68
at Brusselton near West Auckland.
[...]



A COMPLICATION HAS
OCCURRED


Phil Ashmore, This is North Devon.
35-metre wind turbine collapses in
Bradworthy
This is North Devon, 29 January, 2013.
A 35-metre turbine has collapsed near Holsworthy
leaving the tower lying on the ground.
The turbine at East Ash Farm in Bradworthy was erected
in 2010 by Dulas Ltd.
Dulas has confirmed this morning that a complication
has occurred with the turbine and the situation is
currently being investigated. They did not want to
comment further.
The Endurance Wind Power E-3120 turbine, which was
the first model of its kind to be erected in the country,
has a five year warranty.
[...]
-------------------------
Comment
Another Endurance E-3120 turbine suffered a catastrophic
collapse at Wattlesborough, near Shrewsbury, Shropshire,
on 19 January last year (2012). See below.



NORDEX UK FINED AFTER
EARLSBURN WIND FARM DEATH
BBC News, 15 June 2012
A wind turbine manufacturer has been fined
26,000 after admitting health and safety failings at
a site where a teenage worker fell 100ft to his
death.
Basilio Brazao, 19, from Brazil, died instantly when he fell
down the shaft of a wind turbine at the Earlsburn wind
farm near Fintry, Stirlingshire.
[...]



DESIGN SNAG CAUSES WIND
TURBINE SHUTDOWN
BBC News, 6 June 2012.
The owners of a French-made wind turbine have been
advised to keep people away from them after bits started
falling off.
The Northern Ireland Health and Safety Executive gave
the warning and advised the 17 owners to lower the
turbines the ground.
The warning came after the blade assembly fell off
several machines.
[...]



WIND TURBINES AT HIGHLAND
SCHOOLS SWITCHED OFF AMID
SAFETY FEARS FOR KIDS
Highland News, 9 May, 2012.
WIND turbines beside Highland schools - including
Holm primary and Culloden Academy - are being
switched off today amid safety fears about the
possible threat to children.
The switch off comes after a turbine collapsed forcing the
closure of one Highland School and concerns were voiced
about the lack of fencing around the turbines to protect
the kids in event of a malfunction.
[...]
The initial feedback from a review by the Building
Research Establishment, has now prompted the councils
move to shut off the turbines which are sited in, or near
to Highland schools.
[...]



SHROPSHIRE TURBINE
COLLAPSES

Shropshire Star.
It is reported that a 32.4m (112.2 ft) Endurance E-
3120 turbine suffered a catastrophic collapse at
Wattlesborough near Shrewsbury, Shropshire on 19
January, 2012.
The controversial turbine had only recently been
commissioned.
-------------------------
See: More trouble with wind turbines, Shropshire Star,
20 January, 2012.



ENGINEERS INVESTIGATE WELSH
TURBINE FAILURE
It is reported that engineers are investigating the
cause of the catastrophic failure of one of 103
Mitsubishi turbines at Penrhyddlan & Llidiartywaun
(P&L) Wind Farm, near Llandinam, in December. *
-------------------------
* Shropshire Star, 13 January, 2012.



WIND TURBINES RIPPED APART
BY GALE FORCE WINDS IN
HUDDERSFIELD
Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 6 January, 2012.
Huge turbine blades flew off three windmills as
high winds lashed Huddersfield.
There were problems at Hepworth and at two farms in
Upper Cumberworth.
But the Brighouse firm who made the damaged turbines
has promised a full investigation.
A fourth windmill, in Holmfirth, has also been damaged in
the gales of the past few days.
Concerned villagers in Hepworth warned: Someone
could have been killed, after one of the blades was flung
across a road.
Ryan Gill, of Brighouse-based manufacturers Evoco, told
the Examiner it is not yet clear why the turbine
malfunctioned and investigations are under way.
[...]



Ardrossan turbine fire
Stuart McMahon
A turbine in a turbine park operated by Infinis near
Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, caught fire and burnt
out on 8 December, 2011.
The turbines were not generating at the time due to gale
force winds.
A STANDARD PRECAUTIONARY
MEASURE
As a standard precautionary measure, all Infinis staff vacate wind farms when wind speeds exceed 55
mph and therefore no one was present on site at the time of the incident, (Press release from
Infinis).
One wonders why Infinis evacuate their staff but not the
public.



ULTIMATE WIND POWER
DESTROYS TURBINE AT
SCAPEGOAT HILL
Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 1 December, 2011.


Huddersfield Daily Examiner.
A wind turbine came crashing down as high winds
and burst of torrential rain swept across
Huddersfield.
The turbine was one of two that had been put up on
fields off Halifax Road at Scapegoat Hill earlier this year.
[...]



ECO-FRIENDLY SCHOOL LEFT OUT
OF POCKET AFTER UNPROVEN
WIND TURBINE BREAKS
The Telegraph, 5 October 2011.
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.
[...]



NEW SPIN FOR A.M.R.C.s FAILED
WIND TURBINE PROJECT
The Sheffield Star, 6 October, 2011
Two wind turbines on South Yorkshires Advanced
Manufacturing Park [!] are to be demolished after being
mothballed for around two years, because the blades fell
off one of them.
[...]



TURBINE IN A FLAP AFTER
SECOND SAFETY FAILURE
Western Daily Press, 23 September, 2011.
A council-owned wind turbine in Yeovil has been
taken down for a second time amid concerns about
its safety.
The future of the turbine is now uncertain after the
company which supplied it went in to administration.
Technicians took down the turbine at Yeovil Innovation
Centre in Copse Road after manufacturer Proven Energy
warned of a defect. Three turbines of the same P35-2
type have suffered failures in high winds in recent
months.
[...]
It is the second time the turbine has been dismantled.
The propeller was removed for six months in November
2009 after problems developed on a turbine of the same
design elsewhere in the UK.
[...]



PROVEN TURBINES FAIL
Proven Energy, the Scottish manufacturer of
smaller turbines used by farmers, has been put into
receivership following the discovery of acute
technical problems with its flagship P35-2 turbine.
Owners of over 600 turbines have been told to shut them
down due to the risk of catastrophic mechanical failure.
-------------------------
Wind turbine firm closes as blade hazard is
found, Herald, Scotland, 17 September 2011.



SIX-FOOT BLADE FLIES OFF NEW
LISTER TURBINE
The Comet, 6 September, 2011.
A blade from a wind turbine on the roof of the new
Lister Hospital car park flew off in high winds last
night (Monday) hitting a car.
The six-foot blade, part of a turbine that only became
fully operational last week, hit a staff members car,
damaging its roof.
[...]



FIRE AT WELSH TURBINE PARK
Daily Post, North Wales, 27 October, 2010.
Fire crews were called to a wind turbine blaze at
Tir Mostyn/Foel Goch windfarm near Nantglyn,
Denbighshire. The fire started in one of the 25
turbines at the site near Llyn Brenig. A fire crew
from Denbigh were on standby at the site for
around two hours.



WIND TURBINE ON PORTLAND
BLOWN OVER BY GALES
Dorset Echo, 16th July 2010.
A WIND turbine at the Sailing academy has been
blown down by the wind.
The turbine in the academys car park was levelled in the
early hours of yesterday as the Portland coastline was
lashed by winds of up to 55 miles per hour.
[...]



WIND FARM SHUT DOWN OVER
SAFETY FEARS AFTER 150FT
TURBINE BLADE FALLS OFF
Daily Record, Mar 23 2010

Daily Record image.
EUROPES largest wind farm ground to a halt after a
150ft blade snapped off one of the turbines.
All 140 of the giant machines were immediately shut
down at the 300million development near Glasgow until
they could be inspected.
Engineers at Whitelee wind farm, which is run by
ScottishPower Renewables, were trying to work out why
the blade came crashing down.
[...]
German company Siemens, who supplied the turbines,
are also understood to be investigating.
The 360ft turbines are so massive that engineers have
been able to climb inside them to try to detect the
problem.
Over the weekend, the site at Eaglesham Moor, 13 miles
from Glasgow city centre, was cordoned off to keep
visitors away. Raymond Toms, 45, a teacher from East
Kilbride, spotted the broken turbine as he cycled past on
Sunday.
He said: I was out for a bike ride and I saw one of the
massive blades had broken clean off. It was quite
unnerving really.
You can walk right up to these things normally and
touch them.
[...]



SCHOOL WIND TURBINE
COLLAPSES AND CRUSHES
CONTRACTORS VAN (NORFOLK)
Daily Mail 2 December 2009.
A wind turbine collapsed just yards away from
stunned students as it was being set up on a school
field yesterday.
The playing field at Fakenham High School, Norfolk, was
evacuated after the 40ft turbine fell, crushing the bonnet
of a contractor's van.
[...]



WIND BLADES FELL IN SCHOOL
YARD (SCOTLAND)
Raasay children sent home after 50ft turbine
collapsed
Press and Journal. 21 November, 2009.
Children at an island primary were sent home after a
newly-installed wind turbine next to their school
collapsed, it emerged yesterday.
Parents of youngsters at the 18-pupil Raasay Primary
School were asked to collect their children following the
incident on November 13.
The 50ft turbine will remain out of commission until an
investigation has been carried out.
The 6KW machine was installed at the school earlier this
month, but was soon the subject of complaints due to the
noise it was making.
The turbine then collapsed, landing in the schools
playground, although no one was hurt.
A Highland Council spokesman confirmed that a meeting
was held between representatives from the authority and
school staff yesterday.
He said an independent appraisal of the turbine would
now be carried out and that the blades would be removed
within the next few days.
[...]



TURBINE BLADE BREAKS TWICE
IN 15 MONTHS
The Telegraph, 10 Oct 2009.
A blade on a wind turbine in Sheffield has broken in
strong winds for the second time in 15 months.
Manufacturers of the 190ft high turbine, one of three
owned by Sheffield University, are now investigating the
damage at the site close to the citys Parkway link road to
the M1.
[...]



BOLTS NOT UFOS!


Failed Conisholme turbine, Telegraph.co.uk
Dale Vince of Ecotricity has been assiduous in
spreading the silly story that the turbines which
suffered catastrophic blade failure at his
Conisholme power station might have been struck
by a UFO or some other mysterious external agent:
It was Mr Vince's willingness to consider
paranormal explanations that drew
attention to the UFO theories, and he told
the Telegraph he was disappointed by the
results [of the tests].
As most sensible people with any knowledge of the wind
industry know, it is never UFOs, little green men or
sabotage by low-flying NIMBYs on broomsticks which are
responsible for the frequent failure of turbine blades. It is
the more mundane story of poor design, defective
construction, material failure, lightning strike or poor
maintenance (or permutate any combination). The usual
consequences are loss or break up of blades, sometimes
resulting in the catastrophic collapse of the entire
structure as blades impact on the tower.
Unsurprisingly, Enercon, the manufacturers of the
Conisholme turbines, have now discovered that the bolts
attaching a blade failed.
This is of little comfort to people who live close to massive
turbines with 40 to 50m long blades that weigh 8 to 12
tonnes (61.5m blades now being built weigh nearly 18
tonnes). Broken blades, or pieces thereof, have travelled
hundreds of metres in previous blade failures.
(See:UFO wind turbine broke due to mechanical failure
not collision with flying object, The Telegraph, 10 Feb
2009.
Are UFO's to blame for the chaos at Conisholme wind
farm?, Louth Leader, 5 January 2009).



61.5m Blade Assembly (each blade weighs 17.7 tonnes)
LM Glasfiber.



FARMHOUSE HORROR AS
TURBINE BLADE SMASHES
THROUGH ROOF
Belfast Telegraph, 18 June 2008.
A farmer has described the shocking moment a 16-
foot wind turbine blade smashed through the roof
of his home as his family slept inside.
It was like a bomb hitting the roof of the house. It
shattered the tiles and the blade disintegrated
itself, David Campbell told the Belfast Telegraph.
The turbine was one of a batch of 11 defective machines
installed on farms in Northern Ireland with the help of
European funding provided by the Department of
Agriculture.
[...]



WIND DOWN
Lowestoft Journal, 28 March, 2008.
Owners of the UK's tallest mainland wind turbine
have admitted that it was unable to generate
electricity for nearly five months after two lightning
strikes.



LIGHTNING SHATTERS TURBINE
Cumberland News & Star, 27 June 2006.
The blade of a wind turbine disintegrated and fell
200ft after being struck by lightning near
Workington.
Police cordoned off the area after the incident amid fears
that more debris could fall from the turbine at Oldside.
A member of the public, who witnessed the spectacular
lightning strike earlier this month, alerted police.
Sgt Peter Garforth said: The blade was made of fibre
glass. If anyone had been underneath it, they could have
been sliced into pieces."
[...]
OTHER COUNTRIES


German Turbine Fire

Foto: Feuerwehr
A turbine at Seehausen, near the town of Wanzleben
caught fire and burned out on Sunday, 13 July.
This is the second turbine in the area to catch fire in nine
months.
Firefighters could do nothing but maintain a watching
brief while the turbine nacelle and blades burned.
---------------------------
Volksstimme.de



Fire at Cappaboy windfarm (Eire)
Southern Star, Monday, 30 June, 2014.
Three units of Bantry Fire Service fought a blaze when
one of ten turbines at Cappaboy Beg windfarm caught fire
last week.
Bantry Fire Station officer Ian Vickery said they were
alerted to the fire at the Pass of Keimaneigh.
The blades on one of the turbines went on fire. One
blade sheared off and landed 200m away, setting fire to
forestry and another landed 50m away, setting fire to hill
and gorse, Mr Vickery said. A substantial area of rough
grazing was burnt but very little of the young forestry was
affected.
[...]



4 Dead as Plane Crashes at South
Dakota Wind Farm (USA)
ABC News, 29 April, 2014
A small airplane heading back to South Dakota after a
Texas cattle sale crashed into a wind farm in foggy
weather, killing the pilot and three passengers.
[...]



Tower blade comes down at wind
farm (Nebraska, USA)
Albion News, 27 April, 2014.
A section of a blade fell to the ground Monday, April 21,
at about 1 p.m. from one of the wind towers of the Prairie
Breeze Wind Energy Center, northwest of Petersburg in
Boone County.
Winds were strong in the area that day, and wind farm
owner Invenergy said the blade at Prairie Breeze unit #51
experienced a structural failure.
[...]



GE blade fails in Indiana
reNews, 4 April 2014.
A GE blade has failed at the 200MW Wildcat 1 wind farm
in Indiana for the second time in two months.
Yesterday a blade broke off a 1.6MW turbine at the
project, which is owned by Eon Climate and Renewables
North America.
The US turbine manufacturer has initiated a root cause
analysis of the event, GE spokesperson Lindsay Thiele
told reNews.
Early signs indicate that lightning was the cause from
the severe storm that went through the area, said Thiele.
There were no injuries or damage to other turbines or
equipment. Wildcat 1 started commercial operation in
winter 2012. It features 125 GE machines.
In February another turbine blade broke off at the
project.
GE recently attributed blade breaks in December at the
Orangeville Wind Farm in New York and Echo Wind Park in
Michigan to a spar cap manufacturing problem.
[...]



Broken turbine has engineers
seeking answers (Pennsylvania,
USA)
WJACTV (video), 25 February, 2014.
ADAMS TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Wind turbines overlooking a
community in Cambria County will not be turning anytime
soon due to broken blades.
Officials with EverPower, who own the turbines near
Dunlo in Adams Township, said the fiberglass blades on
one turbine broke Monday afternoon, snapping in half and
were left hanging in the air.
Officials said it is not common that the fiberglass blades
fail, but they plan on replacing the blades.
There were no reported injuries due to the broken
turbine.
[...]



soester-anzeiger.de
GERMAN TURBINE FIRE
A 1.65MW Vestas turbine suffered a serious nacelle fire
on Friday, 21 February at a wind farm in Echtrop, in North
Rhine-Westphalia.
Firefighters from a number of surrounding areas attended
with aturntable ladder but were unable to do anything to
fight the fire at 70m above ground level without
endangering personnel.
The nacelle was destroyed by the fire, with debris falling
to the ground. The three 33m turbine blades blades had
not yet fallen when the press were notified.



A-W deals with runaway wind
turbine (Ohio, USA)
The Akron Hometowner, 6 February, 2014
Early Feb. 4, the Akron-Westfield School Districts wind
turbines blade began rotating.
On its own.
We have no control over the blades turning, said A-W
Shared Superintendent Randy Collins. It is life-
threatening to be near the wind turbine at this point.
[...]



Blades break off turbine
(Denmark)
Nordjyske.de, 28 January, 2014.
FREDERIKSHAVN: Two of three blades on a Vestas
turbine at Hjstrupvej west of Frederikshavn broke on the
night between Sunday and Monday [26/27 January]. More
than half of the two 44 metre long blades fell down.
The damaged turbine is brand new V90 model of 3MW
headline capacity. It was commissioned in the beginning
of December.
[...] [Our translation].



Turbine fire in Nordjylland
(Denmark)
Energiwatch, 20 January, 2014.
A wind turbine burst into flames at Fjerritslev near
Vendsyssel in Nordjylland.
Nordjyske reports: When we were driving out towards
the turbine we could see from a long distance that there
were flames and thick, black smoke, says Niels Nygaard,
an officer with Jammerbugt Kommunes emergency
services, to Nordjyske.
He says that the fire in the nacelle was allowed to burn
out because it did not threaten buildings in the vicinity.
[...]
It is the second time in only a few weeks that an NEG
Nicon turbine has caught fire. The latest incident was on 8
January, when a turbine at Skrbk near Tnder in
Snderjylland burnt for a whole night.
[...] [Our translation].



Lightning damages blade on new
German turbine
Shrewald / Kassel. A Vestas wind turbine at a new wind
farms in the Shre has been hit by lightning. An
approximately five feet long section of blade broke off and
fell down despite lightning conductor protection.
The wind farm on the Warpel was finished a few weeks
ago.
---------------------------
HNA.de, 5 January, 2014.



Blade Falls off Worlds Largest
Turbine (Germany)
The German press reports a blade snapping off an E126
turbine at Donnersbergkreis, Rhineland, northern
Germany on 30 December.
The turbine was commissioned in 2010.
The turbine uses segmented steel-composite hybrid
blades which are 61.5 metres long, and weigh some 31
tons. The blade snapped off in one piece and was found
some 40 metres from the base of the 135 metre tower.
The second-generation Enercon E126 7.5MW wind turbine
is still, at 198 metres, the largest turbine in the world.
---------------------------
Enercon investigates E126 blade failure, Wind Power
Monthly, 6 January, 2014.
Rhein Zeitung, 4 January, 2014. (In German).



German turbine collapses
It is reported that a storm caused the catastrophic
collapse of one of three Enercon E40 turbines at Dhlen,
in the Oldenburg region.
The local press reports that three turbine blade accidents
have happened in the past at local wind parks.
More information: NZW Online, 10 December, 2013.



Another German turbine collapses
One of eleven large wind turbines in an array near
Vlatten, in the district of Dren suffered a catastrophic
collapse during a storm on Thursday, 5 December.
More informaqtion: Aachener Zeitung, 6 December 2013.



Shock as another wind turbine
disintegrates at second windfarm
site (Ireland)
Donegal Daily, 6 December, 2013
Another Donegal wind turbine has been smashed by
high winds!
A blade on a turbine at Corkermore wind farm has
snapped clean off and embedded in the ground below.
[...]



UK wind farms put on alert after
series of GE blade failures
Click Green, 23 November, 2013.
Wind turbine makers GE has confirmed it has launched a
thorough investigation into one of its flagship models
after a series of blade failures.
The latest mechanical breakdowns occurred last week
when 48.7m-long blades fell off TWO separate GE 1.6-
100 wind turbines at different locations in the US in the
space of just four days.
A third blade failure was reported the previous week at
another wind farm and now GE customers in the UK are
being contacted with news of the investigation.
The company has installed over 20,000 wind turbines
worldwide and has received several orders for the high
performance 1.6-100 turbine in the UK. To date, GE has
supplied or is under contract to supply more than 163.10
MWs of wind turbines to the UK.
Fears of a flaw in the huge structures could be costly to
the company and heighten public safety concerns.
When Siemens launched a similar safety probe earlier
this year into two broken blades on its B53 turbine it
triggered a slump in sales and cost the head of its wind
division his job.
[...]



InvEnergy California Ridge
Windfarm Turbine Failure
(Illinois, USA)
Edgar County Watchdogs, 21 November, 2013
Early this morning, there was a wind turbine failure at
the California Ridge Wind Farm just north of Oakwood,
Illinois near the Newtown Middle School location.
What we do know at this time is that blade debris was
thrown an unknown distance from the turbine, and
residents described the incident as sounded like loud
thunder and sounded like two trains crashing.
Witnesses also state that the incident shook their whole
house, somewhat similar to an earthquake.
InvEnergy workers are on site and have cleaned the
debris from the surrounding field, dragging it up to the
base of the turbine.
[...]



Operations Suspended After Blade
Breaks Off Wind Turbine (New
York, USA)
YNN Rochester, NY, 18 November, 2013
WYOMING COUNTY, N.Y. My husband and I heard a
boom, but we thought it was just the hunters and then
we realized it was too loud so we thought it was like a
cannon and then there was some rumbling and so we
thought, maybe it's thunder, said Varysburg resident
Ginny Gay.
Gays home in Varysburg is surrounded by wind turbines
- 58 of them. The General Electric 1.6 megawatt turbines
were recently installed by Invenergy at the Orangeville
Wind Farm.
The turbines are big. From the base to the tip of an
upright blade, they stand at 425 feet tall. Each individual
blade is 160 feet long and weighs 200,000 pounds.
The loud noise Ginny woke up to Sunday morning wasn't
thunder or a cannon. It was a blade from a turbine behind
her home crashing to the ground.
[...]



German media focus on turbine
fires
Windpower Monthly, 31 October 2013
Several onshore wind turbine fires in Germany in recent
months have triggered media interest, with even financial
newspaper Handelsblatt reporting a single turbine fire in
Saxony Anhalt.
The Saxony Anhalt incident happened at a three-turbine
project near Klein Rodensleben on 27 October 2013
during stormy weather. The local fire-fighting association
Feuerwehrverband Brde e.V. said the nacelle burnt out
completely and a burning blade fell to the ground.
Burning debris flew several hundred metres but no one
was hurt and the fire did not spread on the ground, the
fire association reported that day. Vestas said
Handelsblatts claim it was one its turbines was incorrect.
Speaking to Windpower Monthly, Energiequelle, which
owns the Windpark Wanzleben-Rodensleben, said the
turbine was a Fuhrlander 1.5MW. He said the fire was due
to a technical fault, not the storm.
Other recent turbine fires include an Enercon 800kW
turbine that went up in flames at the Windpark Sande on
11th October 2013, the NWZ-Online newspaper service
reported 15th October 2013.
An eight-year old Nordex 1.5MW turbine in Windpark
Regiowind plus Lahr/Seelbach caught fire on 25th
September 2013.
[...]



Two killed in Dutch turbine fire
NL Times, 30 October, 2013.
A wind turbine caught fire Tuesday afternoon in
Ooltgensplaat on Goeree-Overflakkee, costing the lives of
two mechanics. Four mechanics were at work in the wind
turbine on the Mariadijk, about 80 meters above ground,
Tuesday afternoon. By a cause, yet unknown, a fire
started in the engine room.
Two mechanics managed to get themselves to safety in
time, reported a police spokesperson. Rescuers found the
body of a deceased mechanic next to the wind turbine on
the ground.
Because of the height the fire department initially had
trouble extinguishing the fire in the engine room. In the
evening, a special team of firefighters went up with a
large crane, and found the body of the missing man.
[...]



Wind Turbine at Lahr completely
burnt - Fire Brigade Helpless
(Germany)
Badische Zeitung, 25 September, 2013
A fire has consumed one of the three wind turbines at
Schlossbhl /Kempfenbhl above the Langenhard. Initial
estimates of the cost of the damage are one to two
million Euros according to Arno Markowsky, CEO of
Freiburg green energy group.
At 12.38, the alarm was received at the control center.
The column of smoke was widely visible in the Rhine
valley. In order not to bring his men into danger, Fire
Chief Thomas Happersberger decided not get close.
It is presumed that the fire broke out in the generator.
The cause of the fire is still unknown. The operators have
experts on site. With a rotor diameter of 77 meters,
Happersberger decided to shut off the windmill.
Happersberger requested additional forces of the riot
police and the police to secure a wide area in the forest
paths on the ridge between Lahr and Seelbach to prevent
any onlookers being endangered.
Barely an hour after the fire was reported the first rotor
blade was in flames. Just ten minutes later it crashed
noisily to the ground, producing a cloud of toxic black
smoke. The rotors are made of glass fiber composites, the
tower itself from steel. [Our translation].
[...]



Chinese typhoon knocks out 17
wind turbines
Wind Power Monthly, 25 September, 2013
CHINA: Eight wind turbines have blown down by
typhoon-strength winds in south China's Guangdong
Province.
Typhoon Usagi, the most powerful this year, also broke
off blades of another nine wind turbines when it hit the
Honghaiwan Wind Farm in coastal Shanwei City,
Guangdong
.
[...]



Double trouble in Ireland
It is reported that a transporter carrying a 64m turbine
section has crashed off a road near Ardara, Co Donegal.
The transporter was carrying replacement parts for a
Vestas turbine which had inexplicably collapsed in fairly
low winds in March this year. The turbine had only been
in operation for 4 years.
The operators have offered no explanation for the
collapse.
---------------------------
Lorry carrying 1.5m wind turbine crashes in
Donegal, Independent.



Repair work on VA hospitals
turbine project hits a snag
(Minnesota,USA)
SCTimes, 12 July. 2013.
Work is underway at St. Cloud VA Health Care System to
repair a wind turbine thats been idle for most of the past
12 months.
But those efforts were hindered by the latest in a string of
setbacks this week when a replacement gearbox for the
turbine, expected to get the machine working as soon as
this week, was discovered to have been damaged during
shipment from India.
But the damage shouldnt significantly delay the repair
timeline, St. Cloud VA Health Care System public affairs
officer Barry Venable said Friday. The damage should be
able to be repaired on-site.
VA officials hope the turbine will be generating power
again as soon as next week, depending in part on wind
conditions that can slow repair work.
Its the latest development in the ongoing effort to bring
the turbine up to speed after more than two years of false
starts. The 250-foot-tall turbine that looms near
Minnesota Highway 15 has made the issue all the more
noticeable.
The turbine has been out of operation for all but about
one hour since August 2012 and has operated only about
20 percent of the time since it was installed in 2011,
Venable said.
[...]



Siemens chief of wind power
steps down
LA Times, 1 July 2013.
Amid reports of wind turbine blades flying off and a
resulting flurry of damage control measures, engineering
powerhouse Siemens said Monday the chief of its wind
power division would step down, two weeks after
announcing costs related to incidents in California and
Iowa.
In a news release, Siemens said Felix Ferlemann, 53, was
leaving by mutual agreement to pursue new career
challenges.
Markus Tacke, who had been serving as chief executive
of the industrial power business unit within Siemens
energy division, will replace Ferlemann, who became chief
executive in October 2011.
Felix Ferlemann provided essential stimuli, and we thank
him for his commitment, Michael S, chief executive of
the companys energy sector, said in a statement.
Siemens, based in Munich, said it would take unspecified
charges for the quarter that ended Sunday after taking
measures to slow rotation speeds or stop 707 wind
turbines in the U.S. The move came after blade breaks
were reported in California and in Iowa, most recently in
May at an Imperial County wind farm. A massive blade
came loose at the Ocotillo Express Wind project and
landed nearby. No one was injured in the late-night
incident.
Siemens said in a separate announcement June 17 it
would shut down its solar energy division after failing to
find a buyer since putting it up for sale in October 2012
.
[...]



Fourth blaze hits Siemens in
Jutland (Denmark)
Recharge News, 3 June 2013
Siemens Wind Power has been hit by yet another fire in
Jutland, Denmark this time at its plant in Engesvang.
Saturday afternoons blaze was the fourth at Siemens
wind operations in Jutland this year.
[...]



Some Siemens turbines to slow
(Kansas, USA)
Hutchinson News, 3 June, 2013
Siemens Energy officials ordered wind turbines using its
B53 rotor blade - manufactured at its Fort Madison, Iowa,
plant - to run at significantly reduced speeds while the
company works to determine what caused two blades to
fall from turbines at two wind farms in recent weeks.
[...]
The latest incident was on a turbine at Pattern Energys
recently completed 94-turbine Ocotillo Wind Project in
California, about 75 miles east of San Diego, which came
online in December. The 10-ton blade on a Kansas-made
SWT-2.3-108 wind turbine broke off May 16 near the
blade root, where the blade attaches to the nacelle, and
fell some 240 feet to the ground in the middle of the
night.
A blade on the same model of turbine broke off at
MidAmerican Energys 200MW Eclipse wind farm in Iowa
on April 5.
[...]




Wind turbine reportedly struck by
lightning (Minnesota, USA)
Austin Daily Herald, 22 May, 2013


Austin Daily Herald
Its quite clear to any observer that one wind turbine
near Dexter doesnt look like its supposed to.
Wind farm technicians and officials with EDF Renewable
Energy believe one wind tower, just northeast of Dexter,
was struck by lightning on April 24, which mangled one of
the structures 37-meter, 14,000-pound blades.
The blade is nearly bent in half but still attached to the
structure, hundreds of feet in the air.
[...]



Siemens Blade Crashes At Ocotillo
Wind Farm (USA)
North American Windpower, 16 May 2013.
NAW has learned that a blade belonging to a Siemens
SWT-2.3-108 wind turbine came crashing to the ground
at the 265 MW Ocotillo Wind Farm in the early morning
hours of May 16. No one was injured.
A spokesperson from Pattern Energy, which owns and
operates Ocotillo, corroborated the incident. Calls to
Siemens were not returned at press time.
Local resident Jim Pelley, who happened on the scene,
says it appears the blade snapped at the base of the
rotor. He says local wind conditions at the time of the
accident were well within what is considered customary
for wind speeds in the area. Citing an online source,
Pelley says the largest wind gust recorded that morning
reached 29 mph.
[...]



NORWEGIAN PROJECT HIT BY
SCANWIND TURBINE WRITE-OFF
Wind Power Monthly, 30 April 2013.
NORWAY: NTE, a Norwegian small regional energy
company, has revealed severe problems with all 13
ScanWind turbines installed at its Hundhammerfjellet R&D
onshore project.
A Norwegian source told WPM the issue is in connection
with the yaw bearings. A notice released by the Oslo
stock exchange on 22 April said all of the turbines have
been taken out of service until the facts have been
clarified.
Any repairs will likely involve significant costs. As a
result, the value of Hundhammerfjellet Research Park was
written down by a further NOK 191 million (EUR 25
million) in 2012 and all ScanWind turbines are valued at
zero, NTE reported.
[...]



FIRE THAT DESTROYED $4
MILLION WIND TURBINE RAISES
SERIOUS QUESTIONS OVER LACK
OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
(USA)
Wind company fails to call fire department, lets blaze
burn overnight
East County Magazine, San Diego County, California.
April 27, 2013 (San Diegos East County)Why is there
no federal requirement for wind farm operators to report
fires?
That troubling fact came to light following a turbine
malfunction that caused a fire, destroying a $4 million
wind turbine at the Kibby Mountain facility in Maine.
Opponents accuse Trans-Canada of a cover up, the
Bangor Daily News reports. (Trans-Canada, builder of the
project, is also the company seeking to construct the
controversial Keystone Pipeline.)
A sensor in the turbine detected the fire. But an
employee did not arrive on scene until the next morning,
after the fire had burned itself out. The fire department
was never notified, nor was any state agency. Had the
blaze not occurred in winter with snow on the ground, the
fire could have spread to the adjacent forest, a Maine
forestry official has stated.
ECM has asked Cal-Fire in an e-mail whether wind facility
operators are required to report fires to fire officials. No
response has been received.
The turbines were made by Vestas. The companys
turbines have previously been involved in fires elsewhere,
including an April 2013 fire in Ontario, Canada, a March
30, 2012 fire in Germany a June 2012 fire in Spain, and a
2011 fire in Scotland in which a turbine ignited in high
winds.
The wind industry claims wind turbine fires are rare. But
the facts suggest otherwise. Vestas is not the only
manufacturer plagued with fires linked to equipment
failures. Hundreds of fires have occurred, and likely more,
since there is no reporting requirement in many locations.
Two brush fires in California in July 2012 were caused by
wind turbines. A wind turbine fire in Riverside caused a
wildfire that burned 367 acres; nearby residents in a box
canyon narrowly escaped disaster. Also last summer, a
wind turbine sparked a grass fire in Tehachapi.
The website Turbines on Fire observes that you only
have to look at insurers reports to get a better
understanding of accident rates and insurance claims
made by wind energy developers to get a truer account of
the health and safety aspect of turbines. According to the
IMIA Insurance of Wind Turbines report, a report that was
compiled based on 15 years of the Wind Energy industry
in Danish markets; Mechanical faults (blade failure and
other faults) accounted for 40% of claims, Lightning
accounted for 20% of claims, Fire accounted for 7% of
claims, Storm accounted for 4% of claims, Liability for
0.5% of claims, and Others (LOP, short circuit, etc.)
accounted for 28.5% of claims.
In December 2011 the Daily Telegraph reported that
RenewableUK confirmed that there had been 1500 wind
turbine accidents and incidents in the UK alone in the past
5 years.
[...]



WIND TURBINE BLADE SNAPS
OFF IN IOWA (USA)
KBZK.com, Bozeman, Montana, 9 April, 2013.
Something big is missing at the Eclipse Wind farm in
Adair, Iowa - a gigantic wind turbine blade broke loose
and crashed into a field.
On Friday, a technician discovered one of the blades -
which are almost the size of a football field - on the
ground instead of in the air.
Siemens Energy, the turbine manufacturer, is now
leading a full investigation into the unusual incident.
[...]



VESTAS V80 DESTROYED BY FIRE
IN ONTARIO (Canada)
Wind Power Monthly, 3 April 2013
CANADA: An investigation is under way at a 40MW
project in Ontario after one of its Vestas V80 1.8MW
turbines caught fire.
The fire was at the Kingsbridge project, near Goderich,
which was built in 2005. It is owned by utility Capital
Power. Images of the incident show the nacelle was
completely burnt out.
In 2011, a 2MW V80 caught fire in high winds at the
Ardrossan wind farm in Ayrshire, Scotland. The incident
occurred as the northern half of the UK faced winds of up
to 165 miles per hour.
Last year Vestas was hit by a number of fires in its
turbines. In April, the nacelle of a V112 3MW turbine
caught fire in Germany, while in June a V90 in Spain
suffered a similar fate.
[...]



HUGE WIND TURBINE BLOWN
DOWN NEAR ARDARA (Donegal,
Eire)


Donegal News
Donegal News, 24 March 2013
A TECHNICAL examination is to resume this morning
(Monday) after a huge 245-foot high [Vestas V52] wind
turbine came crashing down during heavy winds near
Ardara at the weekend.
Dramatic pictures taken in the aftermath of Thursday
evenings incident on the windfarm at Loughderryduff,
near Mass, Portnoo show the main stem lying flat on the
ground and debris spread over a wide area.
The turbine, which has a lifespan of around 25 years, fell
just four years after being erected in the eight-unit
development.
[...]



FRENCH TURBINE FIRE


2013 L'Union
(EUVY, Marne, 17 March 2013). It is reported that one of
seven large large industrial turbines near Fre-
Champenoise burnt for 15 hours after what is thought to
be an electrical fault set fire to the structure.



HUGE WIND FARM TURBINE
SNAPS IN JAPAN
Business Recorder, 15 March, 2013
TOKYO: A 38-tonne wind turbine crashed 50 metres (165
feet) to the ground in western Japan after the steel
column supporting it snapped, officials have said.
The massive Dutch-made turbine, which sat atop a
Japanese-made steel column, was part of a wind farm in
mountains near Kyoto, and it had been installed in 2001
with an expected life of at least 17 years.
[...]



GAMESA DENIES BLADE
RESPONSIBILITY (USA)
REcharge News, 9 January, 2013.
Spanish wind turbine maker Gamesa has denied any
knowledge of or responsibility for a rotor blade that
snapped off one of its 2MW G87 machines at the
Allegheny Ridge wind farm in Pennsylvania over the
weekend.
-------------------------
Previous blade accident
This is not the first accident at this facility: there was a
turbine fire in 2012 and in 2007, shortly after the park
opened, 7 turbine blades failed with pieces being thrown
over 500 feet. The accident was blamed on manufacturing
faults. See BAD GLUING BLAMED FOR MISHAPS AT WIND
FARM, below.
[...]



TURBINE DAMAGE RAISES
CONCERNS FOR LIVINGSTON
COUNTY WIND FARM (USA)
The Times (Ottawa, Illinois), 4 December, 2012.
In light of recent turbine damage in Vermillion and
Champaign counties, Livingston County officials have
raised concerns regarding the wind farm in their county.
Last week, a blade broke from one of the 134 turbines in
a recently built California Ridge Wind Farm in Vermillion
and Champaign counties. The turbine is near Route 49
and Vermillion County Road 2700 North, a few miles
southwest of Potomac and south of Armstrong.
[...]
This was the second turbine blade to break at wind farms
in East Central Illinois this year. In June, the blade of a
turbine at the Settlers Trail Wind Farm near Sheldon in
Iroquois County broke.
[...]
More than 10 percent of the blades had to be replaced
within the first year of operation.
The industries are aware of problems with the blades,
noted Judy Campbell, a Livingston County Board member.
It doesnt become significant when counties are
negotiating with the companies until damage occurs.
When you hear of damage like this, it raises issues for
workers safety. Is it safe to farm under them? Campbell
noted that each blade weighs 6,000 pounds.
[...]



FATAL WIND FARM ACCIDENT IN
GERMANY
Vertikal.net, December 4, 2012.
A fatal wind farm incident happened yesterday morning
at 10am on a site in Mannhagen, northern Germany. The
operator of the Felbermayr owned Liebherr crawler crane
was killed when a blade dropped onto the cab during the
installation of Vestas turbines.
[...]



TOXIC EMISSIONS FROM
HAWAIIAN STORAGE FACILITY:
Kahuku wind farm fire spreads
concerns over future projects
Hawaii News Now, 4 August, 2012.
The fire at the Kahuku wind farm is contained but
environmental concerns within the community have
spread including to the North Shore where First Wind is
building another wind farm.
There are eight turbines already up on Kawailoa Ridge
about five miles from Haleiwa. Eventually there will be 30
and some residents are concerned what happened in
Kahuku could happen here.
Aerial shots over the Kahuku wind farm show the
warehouse that was filled with 12,000 battery packs
severely damaged and releasing toxic smoke and lead
into the air. Authorities say the nearest residences
downwind were miles away and it's very unlikely to pose
a health risk.
First Wind is supposed to submit a cleanup plan to the
state by the end of the day which will include samples of
the air, soil and water. The State Department of Health
will review the plan and decide if it's sufficient or if the
state should do its own tests.
This was the third fire related incident at the Kahuku
wind farm since it opened in March 2011. The battery
energy storage system was hailed as breakthrough
technology but clearly there are flaws.
[...]



CAL FIRE: WIND TURBINE
GENERATOR CAUSED WILDLAND
FIRE THAT CHARRED 367 ACRES
(USA)
East County Magazine, 31 July, 2012.
July 31, 2012 (San Diegos East County) With County
Supervisors poised to consider approval of Tule Wind and
a wind ordinance that could open much of fire-prone East
County to wind energy development, a wildland fire that
started at a wind turbine facility in Riverside County last
month provides fuel for opponents concerned about fire
risks posed by industrial-scale wind projects.
The fire started with the windmill itself, Captain Greg
Ewing with Cal Fire/Riverside Fire Department informed
ECM today.
Despite extensive area cleared around the base of each
turbine, Ewing said, the blaze still spread into a wildland
fire that swiftly engulfed 367 acres. If not for prompt
reporting by a witness, it could have been far worse.
[...]



BLADE SNAPS OFF WINDMILL
(Austria)
Austrian Independent, 20 June, 2012.
An Austrian wind farm had to be closed after a
blade snapped off one of the wind turbines, and fell
over 100 metres to the ground.
According to Austrian power the reason was a production
fault and not because of a lightning strike as had
previously been feared.
[...]



FIRE IN VESTAS TURBINE
(Spain)
Windpower Monthly, 8 June, 2012.
SPAIN: A second Vestas turbine in as many months
has caught on fire, it has emerged.
Only shortly after tackling a nacelle fire on one of its
V112-3.0MW turbines in Germany in April, the Danish
manufacturer has had to contend with another fire, this
time on one of its V90-2MW machines in Spain.
[...]



France 3
BLADE SNAPS OFF REPOWER
2MW MOTORWAY TURBINE
(France)
Windpower Monthly, 24 May, 2012
FRANCE: A 46-metre blade has fallen off a Repower
2MW turbine at a project alongside the A10
motorway in France.
[...]
---------------------------
Within 400m of motorway, see EPAW.



MASSIVE WIND TURBINE
DAMAGED (USA)
WANE.com, 25 Apr 2012.
A wind turbine in Paulding County, Ohio has been badly
damaged.
According to a spokesman with EDP Renewables, the
[Vestas] turbine, which is located near Payne, had two of
its blades sheared early Tuesday afternoon.
[...]



NEW VESTAS MODEL ON FIRE
(Germany)
Vestas, 30 March, 2012
Vestas have issued a statement regarding a giant
new Vestas V112 3.0MW turbine which caught fire
today (30 March, 2012) at the Gross Eilstorf wind
farm in Lower Saxony, Germany.
The cause of the blaze, which is burning out under
controlled conditions, hasnt been determined, the
company said in a statement.
With hub heights of 84, 94 or 119 metres no conventional
fire equipment can be used. Vestas offer an optional
extra of a Fire extinguishing system in nacelle.
The V112 uses massive new 54.6m blades; a prototype
V112 suffered a blade failure during testing in September,
2010 (see below).



Update: ONE DEAD, ONE
MISSING AFTER CHINA TURBINE
BLAZE
Recharge News, 23 February, 2012.
An engineer has died and another classed as missing
after a wind turbine made by Chinas CSR caught fire in
Inner Mongolia, according to local reports.
[...]



HURRICANES SEEN AS THREAT TO
WIND FARMS(USA)
UPI, 13 February, 2012.
Researchers say offshore wind farms planned for
the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico face severe risks
from hurricanes that could destroy half of them.
[...]
Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have modeled
the risk hurricanes might pose to turbines at four
proposed wind farm sites and found that nearly half of the
planned turbines are likely to be destroyed over the 20-
year life of the farms.
[...]



ALLEGHENY WIND FARM FIRE
(USA)
Firefighters and equipment from 4 fire stations
turned out when a 300 ft turbine caught fire at
Allegheny Wind Farm on 7 February, 2012.
All they could do was form a perimeter and monitor the
area for fires caused by burning debris. The turbine
eventually burnt out.
-------------------------
Blue Knob Firefighters respond to Wind mill fire, First
Responder Broadcast Network, 7 february, 2012.



WIND TURBINE CATCHES ON
FIRE (USA)
WCAX News, 29 January, 2012.
Authorities are investigating what caused a wind
turbine to catch fire in Northern New York.
It happened Saturday night in Altona. Officials say people
driving by the windfarm noticed the fire in one of the 400
foot turbines. Noble Environmental, the owner of the
windfarm, says no one was injured. The cause of the fire
is not known.
Two years ago a turbine at the same park came crashing
down when the blades spun out-of-control in high winds.
An investigation in that case uncovered a wiring problem
that prevented the turbine from safely shutting down.
[...]



FRENCH TURBINE LOSES BLADE
The French Delta FM radio station reports that one of
an array of 3 turbines close to the A16 motorway
between Boulogne and Le Touquet lost a blade and
suffered damage to the remaining blades in stormy
weather on 4 January, 2012.
Luckily, the damaged blade parts were not blown onto the
motorway.



ALSTOM TURBINE CRASHES ON
SPANISH HIGHWAY
Windpower Monthly, 8 November, 2011.
SPAIN: High winds and alleged lack of maintenance
has have caused a 35-metre high Alstom turbine to
fall onto the roadside of the N-340 highway in
Tarifa, Spain's southernmost and windiest district.
[...]
As a wind hotspot, there are many such early
experimental projects among hundreds of small turbines
in Tarifa dating back to the early 1990s.
Locals have long complained many machines are
neglected as proper maintenance is not profitable.



SAFETY A BREEZE FOR WIND
TURBINE (USA)
The Star Beacon (Ashtabula, Ohio), 18 October, 2011.
CONNEAUT The wind turbine struck by lightning this
past summer sustained considerable damage but poses
no safety threat to people, according to a message from
the company that built the generator.
[...]
The lakefront turbine was constructed in early 2010, one
of two machines erected by NexGen. The second is a
larger turbine at Conneaut Middle School that has been
plagued with problems since its arrival.
[...]
-------------------------
READER COMMENT: So the 10 to 15 foot piece that blew
off of the turbine in the last week and all the little pieces
that have fallen since it got struck, have no threat to
people. Hope I am not around it when the next 10 footer
falls. (Concerned, October 18, 2011, 3:48pm).



ANOTHER WIND TURBINE
SPARKS FIRE (USA)
ReporterNews, 3 October, 2011.
Energy officials say they are taking down a charred
260-foot wind turbine to determine the cause of a
fire that began Sunday evening in a rural area west
of U.S. 277 and County Road 618, the second
turbine blaze to hit the area in the past six weeks.
Sundays fire occurred less than a five-minute walk from
the country home of state Rep. Susan King.
In an interview with the Reporter-News, King said the fire
lit up like the Paramount sign, and was akin to a
Roman candle, with balls of fire flying out and onto the
ground.
[...]



GAMESA INVESTIGATES AFTER
WIND TURBINE LOSES BLADE IN
INDIA
RECharge News, 8 September, 2011.
Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa is
investigating an incident that saw a rotor blade
break-off from one of its machines in India.
The blade became detached from the G5X-850 850kW
turbine earlier this week. Reports suggest the stray
component hit a transmission line.
[...]



WIND TURBINE ERUPTS INTO
FLAMES SOUTHWEST OF ABILENE
(USA)
KTXS News, 25 August, 2011.
ABILENE, Texas -- Firefighters from at least three
volunteer departments are on the scene of a burning wind
turbine southwest of Abilene.
ECCA Fire Chief Gary Young said the fire started in the
wind turbine tower and then spread to grass around the
tower.
Young said firefighters are working in rough terrain trying
to keep the fire from spreading to other towers in the
area.
[...]



GERMAN TURBINE COLLAPSE

Hendrik Urbin, Osthessen-News
There was a spectacular, unexplained turbine collapse at
a wind park in Kirtorf, Eastern Hesse, Germany, on
Sunday, 19 June 2011.



MAN KILLED BY TURBINE LORRY
DRIVING ON WRONG SIDE OF
ROAD. (Ireland)
Inquest hears of Ballybeg, Buttevant truck crash
horror, The Corkman, 26 May, 2011.



WIND TURBINE FAILURES PUT
STATE ENERGY PROGRAM ON
HOLD (USA)
MyCentralJersey.com April, 2011.
LACEY Hoping to save money by generating
renewable energy from wind turbines instead of
buying it from a power company, two Forked River
farm owners had 120-foot turbines erected on their
properties in December.
But by March 8, the turbines no longer were rotating.
Three fiberglass blades ranging in weight from 265 to 290
pounds flew off the tower of the turbine at James
Knoellers Christmas Tree Farm on Carriage Road on
March 2.
Knoellers 17-year-old granddaughter, Sarah, was
working with horses near the tower when the blades flew
off.
One of them nearly hit her, Knoeller said. The weather
was fine. There were mild winds. One of the blades was
found 215 feet away.
The most disappointing aspect of this project prior to the
blades falling off was the electric production was only 25
percent of what I was told I was going to get by Skylands
Renewable Energy. The catastrophic blade failure was the
last straw, Knoeller added.
[...]



IBERDROLA HALTS WIND FARM
AFTER SUZLON TURBINE BLADES
FALL (USA)
Bloomberg, 21 March, 2011
Iberdrola SA (IBE), the biggest producer of
renewable energy, halted power production at a
150-megawatt wind farm in Rugby, North Dakota,
after the blades of a Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL) S88
generator fell from their mount.
[...]



PILOT KILLED IN WIND TOWER
CRASH (USA)
Sacramento & Co., 20 January 2011.
SACRAMENTO, CA - The agricultural pilot killed
while seeding a field in the Delta likely never saw
the steel tower that caused the fatal crash,
according to a preliminary report from the National
Transportation Safety Board.
Stephen Allen, 58, of Courtland, struck an unmarked
198-foot tower Jan. 10 that had been erected on Webb
Tract in 2009 to evaluate the possible placement of wind
turbines, according to the NTSB.
[...]
Moore [National Agricultural Aviation Association
executive director Andrew Moore] said at least 24 pilots
have been killed by low towers in the past decade,
although not all of the towers were METs [meteorological
masts].
[...]



Victor Harbor Times
CANT FIGHT THE FIRE
(Australia)
Victor Harbor Times, South Australia, 4 November, 2010.
CAPE JERVIS - Do you call the CFS in the event of a
wind turbine fire?
While it might seem like the right thing to do, according
to group officer for the Southern Fleurieu CFS Mr Greg
Crawford, there is little to nothing the CFS can do in this
situation, as officers found out at the weekend.
Last Saturday at 2.33 pm, the Southern Fleurieu CFS
group was alerted to a fire at the Starfish Hill Wind Farm,
near Cape Jervis, in which a turbine had caught alight.
The fire caused $3,000,000 in damage.
On arrival, CFS officers could do little but watch the blaze
from half a kilometre away, as the situation was deemed
too dangerous to approach.
[...]



WAUBRA POLICY TO LET TURBINE
FIRES BURN OUT (Australia)
Local fire fighters could do little but watch the
blaze from half a kilometre away as the situation
was deemed too dangerous to approach ...WorkSafe
officers ordered fire fighters a further 500 metres
away as burning tips of the blades were flying off
from the structure.
The Courier, 20 November, 2010.
Waubra wind farm operator Acciona has confirmed a
policy of allowing fires in turbines to burn out.
Director of generation Brett Wickham said the height of
turbine poles, about 80 metres, precluded safe fire
fighting.
[...]



DRUNKEN GERMAN TURBINE
Norddeutscher Rundfunk story, 13 November 2010, on a
drunken turbine at a turbine park at Hafentrn in
Bsum, Schleswig Holstein. The whole structure was
shown wobbling from side to side after losing a rotor
blade.
The video has now been removed from the NR website.



FRENCH TURBINES CATCH FIRE
AFTER BRAKES FAIL


Photo: Vents libres sur nos collines.
23 September, 2010.
EPAW summary: Media commentators said the turbines
braking system failed, the machines revved up and
caught fire. One of them exploded, sending burning
debris into the vegetation and starting fires. Thank God it
had rained two days before, said a woman to the
journalist, but had this occurred in August, it would have
been a different matter. The radio commentator said a
similar incident occurred 8 years ago at the same
windfarm.



VESTAS WIND REPORTS PART OF
BLADE BROKE OFF V112 WIND
TURBINE PROTOTYPE (Denmark)
Bloomberg, 9 September, 2010.
A portion of the blade on the first prototype of the
Vestas Wind Systems A/S V112 wind turbine broke
off late yesterday in Denmark, Michael Holm, a
spokesman for the company, said.
A six- to seven-meter (20 to 23 feet) portion came off
the blade at the turbine in Lem, western Denmark, Holm
said today in a telephone interview from Randers,
Denmark. Were looking into the root cause. We dont
see this as a design error.
[...]



LIGHTNING STRIKE BURNS DOWN
WIND TURBINE (USA)
Sioux City Journal (Iowa), 2 August, 2010.
A lightning strike started a fire in a wind turbine Saturday
morning, destroying the turbine and one of three new
blades that had been laid out on the ground beneath it in
order to be installed as replacements. Damages totaled
$760,000, according to Peterson Fire Chief John
Winterboer.
The turbine was owned by Aes Wind Generation Inc., of
Alta Iowa.
Winterboer said the call came in at 7:30 a.m., but
firefighters were on the scene until 3:30 p.m. because
they had to wait for the turbine and its three blades to
burn enough to fall the 210 feet to the ground before they
could extinguish the smoky blaze.
[...]



AN ILL WIND - BROKEN TURBINE
BLADES BOTHER NEARBY
RESIDENT (USA)
The Times (Ottawa, Illinois), 27 July 2010
Barbara Ellsworth was troubled, but not surprised
Saturday morning when she spotted a broken blade
on a wind tower near her home.
We thought, Hah! We knew that would happen.
Ellsworth and her husband Mike live three miles south of
Marseilles on East 2450th Road, about 1,200 feet from a
wind turbine and about 2,500 feet from one of the two
towers damaged during the weekend, possibly by high
winds. Chicago-based Invenergy Wind operates the string
of towers that run through southeastern La Salle County.
[...]



TURBINES BLADE DAMAGE
UNUSUAL (USA)
Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, Illinois), May 8, 2010.


Daily Chronicle
SHABBONA TOWNSHIP Officials at NextEra Energy
Resources aren't sure what caused one of the three
blades on a wind turbine south of the village of
Shabbona to fail Friday morning. The 131-foot-long
blade hung from the top of the turbine Friday,
apparently bent at the base and split along its
length.
[...]



PLANE CLIPS TOWER NEAR
MACDONALD (Canada)
Daily Graphic [Manitoba, Canada], 1 July 2010.
An aerial spray plane clipped the top of a tower at
the edge of a field north of Macdonald on Monday.
The plane was owned by Jonair and was preparing to
spray a near-by field.
Jonair owner John Bodie said no one was injured in the
incident, but damage to the plane means that it will not
be usable for the rest of the season.
The 200-foot-high tower was put up to observe wind
patterns for a potential wind farm.
The tower had no markings, paint or lights on it, making
it very difficult to see, said Bodie.
[...]
Comment
Windaction.org (US) notes This is one of several recent
incidents of small planes hitting unmarked anemometry
masts at wind installations.



A DAMAGING BLOW (USA)

John Gibbins / UNION-TRIBUNE
San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 January, 2010.
Workers are inspecting and repairing 75 wind turbine
blades at a wind farm some 60 miles east of San Diego
after a storm a month ago caused catastrophic damage to
some of them.
[...]





The Fenner turbine collapse remains unexplained, even
after a lengthy investigation. The operators are now
reinforcing the foundations of the remaining 19 turbines.



ANOTHER GERMAN TURBINE FIRE


Windkraftanlage defekt Leuchtfeuer in 130 Meter Hhe
[Wind turbine fault Fire at 130 meters]
photo: dpa/DPA
See full article.



TWO WIND TURBINES SELF-
DESTRUCT IN ONE WEEK
(Denmark & Sweden)
Copenhagen Post, November 3, 2009.
Wind turbine blades rip loose near Esbjerg and
southwestern Sweden, one landing on a hiking
path.
A malfunction on a Vestas wind turbine in the town of
Falkenberg on Swedens southwest coast could have
resulted in tragedy, as one of the structures large blades
flew off and landed on a track used by hikers.
Yesterdays incident follows a similar one this weekend
near Esbjerg, where a defective axle caused all of the
blades on a 40m high turbine to rip loose, one of them
hitting a power transformer.
Both wind turbines were produced in Denmark.
And, although no one was injured in either incident, the
accidents have brought the problem of faulty wind
turbines into focus. The wind turbine industry in Sweden
has now proposed setting up a commission to investigate
the many incidents.
[...]



STRIKE A LIGHT! MORE VESTAS
SMOKERS. (France)


PONTAL Jeremy / Le Dauphin Libr / Privas
Chabanet, near Privas, Ardeche (France) - A wind
turbine destroyed by Fire
[Une olienne dtruite par le feu - Le Dauphin Libr, 31 October 2009.]



FIRE AT FIRST NEW BRUNSWICK
WIND FARM (Canada)





[New Brunswick, Canada, 10 August, 2009]. New
Brunswicks first commercial wind farm will lose several
weeks of electricity output from one of its 32 turbines
after a major fire damaged the towering structure on the
weekend.
The blackened shell of the wind turbine, much of its white
coating peeled away, was obscured by fog and clouds at
the TransAlta wind farm in Alberta County on Monday.
[...]
The fire originated 80 metres above ground in the
structures turbine. Vestas, the company that supplies the
turbines, will send a team to determine the cause this
week.
[...]
The Saturday fire burned for more than an hour and
extinguished itself even though Elgin, Riverview and
Salisbury fire departments arrived on scene.
The fire departments did not have equipment to reach
the fire, which towered high above the tree line.
[...]
(See full story: Telegraph-Journal article).



LIGHTNING DESTROYS TURBINE
BLADE (Germany)


Lausitzer Rundschau
Brieske [Brandenburg, Germany], 3 July 2009.
Lightning strike caused the catastrophic break up of
a 40m turbine blade on Thursday, 2 July. Large
pieces of blade flew for about 150 meters, landing
about 50 meters from federal highway 169.
The blade damaged trees, cutting a track in the forest.
(See: Lausitzer Rundschau [in German]).



ANOTHER AMERICAN TURBINE
COLLAPSE

Michael Fellion
Noble Environmental Power Confirms
Altona Turbine Collapse
WPTZ.com, March 6, 2009.
ALTONA, N.Y. -- Noble Environmental Power has
confirmed that a turbine collapsed at its Altona,
N.Y., wind park Friday morning, but said no one was
injured in the collapse and ensuing fire.
[...]
Residents reported large explosions from the scene at
about 9:30 a.m. NewsChannel 5 went to the scene off
Purdy Road, which leads to the wind farm, and found
Noble trucks blocking the roadway. Noble officials at the
scene would not provide access to the area and offered no
information about the situation at that time.
Residents in the area told Newschannel 5 they heard
what sounded like a large explosion and said the loud
noises lasted for several minutes. Others equated the
sound to an earthquake and speculated one of the
company's large windmills may have thrown a blade.
Another local resident told NewsChannel 5 she could see
flames coming from Noble.
[...]
-------------------------
Update
The investigation by New Yorks Department of Public
Service found that the collapse of one turbine and failure
of a second at the 65-turbine Noble Altona Windpark was
the result of a wiring system that prevented the turbines
from being automatically shut down in the event of a loss
of electric power.
(Noble Environmental Power faces questions over wind
turbine collapse, Brighter Energy Org. 17 May, 2010).



MORE THAN 10 DANISH WIND
TURBINES WRECKED IN 3 YEARS
The Engineer, 26 February 2008.
The collapse of a wind turbine is far from unique in
Denmark, the Technical Approval Authority at Ris
[National Laboratory] states. It has happened between 10
and 15 times in the last three years, and poor
maintenance is the most frequent cause.
[...] [Our translation].



MINISTER DEMANDS
EXPLANATION FOR TURBINE
COLLAPSES (Denmark)


The Danish Climate Minister, Connie Hedegaard,
called for an investigation to determine the cause of
the two violent wind turbine collapses in Denmark
in one week in February 2008. Hedegaard's request
to the Energy Board came after other accidents
were reported in Denmark and elsewhere during
the previous two months.

Catastrophic Danish turbine accident, Live Leak video (22.02.08).
The author of the Danish video clip comments:
The braking system failed while 2
technicians worked in the turret in the
top. They got out before the collapse.
A 19 metre piece of the wing was thrown
200 metres away. Smaller pieces were
sent more than 500 metres away..!!



BAD GLUING BLAMED FOR
MISHAPS AT WIND FARM (USA)
It all came down to glue. And how it was
misapplied by workers. Spanish wind-energy
company Gamesa said insufficient and irregular
distribution of glue caused large pieces to break
off seven turbine blades at the Allegheny Ridge
Wind Farm near Lilly, Cambria County. No one was
injured during the mishap in mid-March, but pieces
of the blades flew more than 500 feet, according to
residents.
From a distance, it is hard to comprehend how large the
Gamesa turbine blades are - 140 feet long, about 14 feet
wide and weighing about 7 tons, according to the
company.
"It's something the size of a yacht flying through the air,"
said Brian Alger, an analyst who covers the wind-energy
industry for Strata Capital Management in Beverly Hills,
Calif.
Several of the blade pieces landed on property owned by
James A. Davis, 69, of Lilly, and leased in part to
Gamesa. One piece was thrown more than 500 feet
before coming down through the trees, Davis said. That
would put it outside the official 300-foot safety zone
around each turbine.
[...]
(The Patriot-News, Pennsylvania, USA. May 7, 2007).



CATASTROPHIC TURBINE FAILURE
RAISES DOUBTS ABOUT SAFETY
(USA)

Searsburg turbine tower (courtesy IWA)
NEW HAMPSHIRE (October 16, 2008). Turbine #10
at the Searsburg wind energy facility in Searsburg,
Vermont experienced a catastrophic failure when
one of the blades came in contact with the turbine's
tower causing it to buckle during high winds. This
turbine's 28-ton nacelle and 3-blade rotor assembly
crashed to the ground scattering debris several
hundred feet from the structure. Approximately 20-
gallons of heavy oil spilled from the unit when its
fluid reservoirs were damaged. The 11-turbine
Searsburg facility was brought online in 1997 and
according to preconstruction documents, the
turbines had an expected lifespan of 30-years.
Industrial Wind Action (IWA) Groups executive director,
Lisa Linowes, was not surprised by the failure. The
Searsburg towers are located at an elevation of nearly
3000-feet in some of the harshest weather conditions in
New England. Performance issues and blade failures have
plagued this project for some time, she said pointing to
incidences in May 2006 and again in May 2008.
While the eleven-year old Searsburg turbines are failing,
newer models have not improved the safety record. Wind
developers today tout life expectancies of industrial wind
turbines that exceed 20 years, Linowes said, but the
fact remains that estimates of the functional lifespan of
modern utility-scale wind turbines are speculative and
cannot be substantiated since so far very few have been
operating for ten years. Unfortunately, unless a person
or property is damaged in a turbine failure, there is no
obligation for the owner of an industrial wind turbine to
report the incident.
Information on the number and types of failures is sparse
and poorly reported, and thus this vital data is not
adequately incorporated into estimates of turbine
longevity. The Searsburg failure occurred on September
15.
What's more ominous, Linowes said, is that reports of
turbine failures in the United States are increasing. These
failures include blade throws, oil leaks, fires, and
collapse. IWA attributes the increase in reporting to the
fact that the machines are more visible, being erected
close to where people live, and also due to the growing
interest in wind energy development. In the last year
alone, IWA has tracked catastrophic failures in Idaho,
Minnesota, California, New York, Pennsylvania and
elsewhere, raising concerns about public safety.



TURBINE BLADE LANDS ON MAIN
ROAD (Holland)
ADEVA (French website), 14 May 2008

Truus Weda
A 23 metre turbine blade, weighing some 3 tonnes,
broke off and landed on the N245 road between
Oudkarspel and Dirkshorn, Holland.

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