Call for Conisholme wind farm to be closed
A call has been made for the Conisholme wind farm to be closed — before someone is injured.
Coun Robert Palmer, Chairman of East Lindsey District Council, says the site should be closed off to the public while an independent health and safety investigation is carried out.
On Sunday morning local people woke to find a blade on one of the 89 metre high wind turbines in Fen Lane had broken off.
A team from Ecotricity, which runs the 20 wind turbines at Conisholme, are investigating what caused the damage.
Coun Palmer said: “Imagine walking your dog there and one of those coming down on your head. It would chop you completely in two.
“I’m extremely worried about the safety of the public. It is open land and there are footpaths across there.
“I want the wind farm completely closed down while an independent investigation is carried out.”
He said while it was not yet known what caused the damage, one theory was a build up of ice on the blade.
He is worried if it has happened once it could happen again.
He said: “If one has gone we are looking at more extreme weather before the weekend.”
An Ecotricity spokesperson said there was no danger to the public from the wind farm.
They said a health and safety office from East Lindsey District Council had visited the site and was satisfied and the Health and Safety Executive in London has said they are also satisfied it was a ‘unique’ accident and there was no danger.
An Ecotricity spokesperson said: “We don’t know at this time what caused the problem, a team of engineers from the turbine manufacturer have been on site to investigate. We hope to know more soon.”
7 January 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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