Sunday, November 14, 2010

Ticking Turbine Time bombs~ waiting to collapse?





Updated 12:10 pm 11/14/2010
Ynn is reporting today that Work on the Hardscrabble Wind Farm Project FAIRFIELD, NY in Herkimer County has hit a snag video report---> here<--- ~ Atlantic wind is behind the project a subsidiary of the Spanish company Iberdrola .
Ynn Reported that Iberdrola took core samples and found that their structures were not up to standards. They are now in the process of taking down some towers and bases as a safety precaution.
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Concrete problems with Wind turbines foundations are nothing new.
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Fenner wind owned by ENEL North America was the largest the wind complex east of the Mississippi when it was built 10 years ago. Fenner had a turbine collapse in December of 2009.

Concrete issues with turbine foundations apparently are becoming a common problem.
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In December of 2009 Hank Sennott, director of corporate affairs and communications for Enel North America is quoted in an interview~
by Martha E. Conway a reporter for the Madison County Courier ~
It was discovered that "concrete core samples from the foundations preliminarily showed inconsistent aging and degradation".
“Some of the samples looked like they were poured yesterday,” Sennott said. “Others… Didn’t”
According to Sennott the samples of five or six foundations led to the decision to test all 19 in the project. He said the company is in the home stretch of collecting data and a report is expected soon.
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It took 10 years for the turbine foundation to fail at fenner this prompted them to take the core samples otherwise they may not have tested the concrete. How many other wind complexes are out there with concrete like this? Are there more Ticking Turbine time bombs waiting to collapse?

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Did the developers of Fenner's wind turbine system, actually pre - determined the wind turbine reaction forces in conjunction with the wind pressure forces on the towers, and the turbine blades themselves to withstand the overturning moments developed, that are being resisted by the soil or rock material that is, part of the anchorage resisting system, as required by New York’s Construction codes? One issue with wind turbines is that they actually try to unscrew them selves from the ground, due to wind pressure forces. The anchorage systems and subsurfaces are critical factors in wind turbine design.

I have not been able to find a final report on the Fenner Collapse.
The PSC Altona Turbine Collapse end of Investigation Report can be viewed--->here<-- Design of Wind Turbine Foundation Slabs .pdf file

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Jefferson's Leaning Left recently did a story titled ~ Business is not good for wind developers. JLL'S story highlighted a Wall street Journal article that was covering the bad economic news for Wind Development and how Enel stock was dropping. Speculating was that it was due to the world wising up about wind power read more ---> here<-- Is it any wonder that Enel's stock is dropping as fast as turbines are dropping...

Now Jefferson's Leaning Left reports about problems on Wolfe Island -->here<---

So many turbine problems so little time!!

Update ~
Sinking turbines could cost British wind farms £50million Mail Online
Daily Mail Reporter
14th April 2010

Hundreds of Britain's offshore wind turbines could be sinking into the sea because of a design flaw.
It is believed the concrete used to fix some turbines to their steel foundation can wear away, causing the power generators to drop a few inches.
The fault was first discovered at the Egmond aan Zee wind farm in the Netherlands and affects those with single cylinder foundations. Offshore farms are notoriously expensive, and large firms including BP and Royal Dutch Shell have pulled out of the sector.
More...


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We have about 600 miles of St. Lawrence River that flows at a minimum of four knots. Turbines could be lined up along the bottom and produce electricity forever! The plus; The 'wind' never stops down there. From my boat I couldn't see them or hear them and the fishees would swim over them! Why haven't the "Geniuses" considered this option? No payoffs.