Official: Conditions ‘normal’ before turbine collapse
Credit: By JENNIFER BOGDAN, Observer-Dispatch, www.uticaod.com 4 January 2010
FENNER — The 19 turbines that remain standing at Fenner Wind Farm did not record any unusual conditions the day that one of the 187-ton structures collapsed, officials said Monday.
Last week, a turbine located on Buyea Road in Fenner, a town northeast of Cazenovia, toppled at about 4 a.m. in a cornfield following a power outage. No one was injured.
Each of the 20 turbines in the wind farm operated by Enel North America is equipped with an internal computer that tracks basic operations. The computers should note any unusual changes in wind speed and any technical problems in the turbines, said Hank Sennott, a spokesman for Enel North America.
“Nothing in the information we retrieved from the other 19 seemed to indicate that the wind had picked up and the blades were spinning any faster than they should have been,” Sennott said. “Everything seemed normal.”
It’s unknown if any abnormalities were registered in the computer of the collapsed turbine.
A team from Enel North America and General Electric investigating the crash is working to see if the computer from within the collapsed turbine can be removed and examined, Sennott said.
The company does not believe sabotage was involved in the incident, but officials have declined to discuss other possible causes until an investigation is complete, which likely won’t be until the end of January.
The other 19 turbines at Fenner Wind Farm, which produces enough electricity to serve at least 10,000 homes, temporarily have been shut down as a safety precaution, Sennott said.
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
Some possibly related stories:
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- Enel: Turbine collapse could have ’significant impact’ on wind industry
- Cause of collapse at Fenner wind farm still unknown as investigation continues
- Cleanup has begun at turbine collapse site
- Investigation of windmill collapse in Fenner could take until mid-January
- Company: Windmill didn’t trigger alert with monitors before it fell
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