One of the turbines operated by Ecotricity at Conisholme (NE Lincolnshire) suffered a catastrophic structural failure in freezing conditions during the night of January 3rd/4th. Two huge blades were severely damaged after apparently making contact with the tower. One blade has fallen to the ground only after shedding large pieces of debris from height and over a wide area. The base of the tower shows signs of a major impact as the blade smashed through the entrance structure at ground level before rolling into the neighbouring field. During sub-zero temperatures this accident combined with the recent “ice shedding” incident at Whittlesey and the subsequent shut down of the turbine there is raising concerns over safety and design.
Ecotricity emergency engineers arrived on site at 15.00 on January 4th to begin an examination of the damage and assess the cost of repairs needed. The local residents and numerous people we saw taking pictures are asking questions about the safety of these turbines and the impact and huge costs of repairs. Ecotricity are being watched carefully by local people who supplied these pictures and campaigned to prevent this wind farm being constructed. Many others are now asking similar questions.
This is further evidence (if it were needed) that the 7 x 126 metre high turbines proposed for the Harrington airfield (37 metres taller than those at Conisholme) will be sited too close to the public highway, exposing drivers, cyclists and riders to unacceptable danger. Local residents and walkers together with protected wildlife areas would also be impacted negatively on a site that is marginal at best. The very public accident at Conisholme has proved beyond doubt that industrial wind generation does not sit with public safety. Siting massive turbines so close to people and roads is potentially disasterous and must be stopped before someone is seriously injured or even killed.
An article in the Louth Leader newspaper reporting the incident concludes: …And although many believe the incident is an isolated one, reports of damage to wind turbines appear to be more common than people think:
* April 2005: A 40m blade of a turbine on a wind farm in Berwickshire, Scotland suddenly shattered. The failure was blamed on strong winds and icy weather conditions.
* November 2006: The tip of the rotor blade of a turbine in Oldenburg, Germany was ripped off following a sudden gust of wind throwing it into a field 200m away.
* January 2007: A family narrowly avoided tragedy when a 16ft blade spun off a wind turbine and crashed through the roof of their home in Belfast.
* July 2008: A giant wind turbine between Sheffield and Rotherham was shut down using a controlled deconstruction and the blades fell to the ground after cracks in the blades appeared.
* December 2008: Shards of ice were catapulted from an 80m high turbine in Peterborough leaving residents fearing for their safety.
An article on Ecotricity’s website says:
Rebuilding has started on our ‘UFO’ damaged wind turbine at Fen Farm, Lincolnshire. All three blades and the central hub are due to be replaced in the coming days. The cranes are on site and ready to go. The new blades and central hub are already on site ready to be lifted into place.
The investigation into the cause of the damage has as yet to draw any conclusions. The UFO story has dominated press reports since The Sun ran their front page splash last Thursday.
“To be honest we had a lot of fun with this, and that took the edge off what was otherwise a serious and very bad event for us” said Dale Vince, managing director of Ecotricity.
But what really happened?
There are a number of likely culprits - collision (UFO included), lightning, material failure, design failure and maintenance failure. The investigation is narrowing down the options, we are closer to an understanding of what happened but we’re not there yet.
Sadly for the UFO enthusiasts we can still see no evidence for collision. If an object collided with the turbine you would expect some debris on the ground and some ‘exchange’ of materials on the blade surface.
Investigation of the ‘bent’ blade once it’s removed may shed some light on this. It is more than likely, as many have suggested, that the fallen blade hit and broke the second blade on the way down.
“As for UFOs? I believe absolutely that intelligent life exists in the universe. But I doubt that if it could get here from another galaxy it would crash into a windmill - then again accidents will happen” said Dale Vince. “All good fun. But seriously UFOs are bottom of my probability list.”
Disturbing that the accident happened. Even more disturbing that for all their fancy technologies they don’t yet know the cause and so other turbines are potentially at risk of a similar occurence!
