December 28, 2009
Perry White, Watertown Daily Times City Editor
Another wind tower has collapsed, this one in the Madison County Wind Farm in the town of Fenner. The nine-year-old tower collapsed Saturday night, apparently when power was lost to the tower. This is the second such collapse in upstate New York this year; in March, a tower collapsed in Altona, Franklin County, when it, too, lost power. Clearly, this issue is one that needs further study and one that should be giving pause to towns in the north country that are rushing to get permissive laws on the books for commercial wind farm development.
These two collapses are far from the only ones, however. In Denmark in 2008, a tower collapsed when the braking system failed and the blades spun out of control, eventually shattering the nacelle and sending debris well beyond the collapse range of one and a half times the tower height. In Oldenburg, Germany, a tower collapsed in November 2006 when a rotor shattered, bringing the entire tower down; large chunks of blade debris landed more than 200 meters – 660 feet – from the tower.
Link here to the Watertown Daily Times to read more...
1 comment:
I recall a statement by Noble Environment's CEO that debris from the Altona accident did not fall beyond 500 feet. The Watetown Daily Times reported a local pilot, who flew over the Altona sight shortly after the accident, stated that debris was scattered 1/4 of a mile from the turbine base. Establishing how far debris was thrown was a very important piece of information needed by North Country communities trying to recommend with safe setbacks. Yet, there was no follow-up by the Times.
White warns us: "Take heed, folks in Clayton and Cape Vincent and Hammond. The potential danger of tower failure in terms of human life and ruined infrastructure is far more real than the wind farm developers are telling you."
Perry White should have also added this: Take heed, the Watertown Daily Times isn't going to help you people in Clayton, Cape Vincent and Hammond sort out the truth between corporate statements and first-hand accounts. The Times dropped the ball and should have done more on the very issue White says is important. If it is any consolation to White, we can't rely on the PSC either. Their detailed report on the cause of the accident never considered debris scatter. They never looked or they got there so late Noble cleaned up the mess before they could investigate.
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