February 23, 2009
Iowa

Wind turbine causes turmoil over weekend

JACKIE ALBRECHT, NEWS EDITOR | The Wartburg College Circuit | www.wartburgcircuit.org 23 February 2009

A wind turbine’s blades and rotor fell to the ground Saturday afternoon. Homeowners near the site were evacuated as a precaution and no injuries were reported, according to a Waverly Light and Power Co. press release.

ICS, the company constructing the wind turbines, discovered shortly after building the turbine Friday that the blades were not feathered, or turned correctly, and therefore the wind was causing the blades to spin.

According to the Waverly Light and Power Co. press release, “the rotor and blades on the unit are spinning and cannot be stopped. The spinning is weakening the structure and it could come apart and fall down at some point in time.”

After this was discovered, two homeowners were evacuated and the roads near the turbine were closed. Waverly Light and Power Co. took other precautions in dealing with the turbine malfunction.

“We visited the law center so dispatchers would have first-hand knowledge of the situation. We felt that if the turbine fell to the ground during the night, people who heard the loud noise would be scared and call 911,” General Manager of Waverly Light and Power Diane Johnson said in a press release.

A turbine can only experience a feathering problem during the preliminary stage of constructing the unit. This is due to the fact that not all of the parts have been assembled.

A turbine can be stopped multiple ways once it is operating, according to the Waverly Light and Power Co. Press release.

The utility was one of two turbines built over the past two weeks. The turbines are located just east of Waverly.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2009/02/23/wind-turbine-causes-turmoil-over-weekend/