May 20, 2011
North Dakota

Damaged wind turbine to be fixed in June

By ELOISE OGDEN - Regional Editor, Minot Daily News, www.minotdailynews.com 20 May 2011

People traveling on N.D. Highway 23 near the U.S. Highway 83 junction easily can see a damaged wind turbine, with one of its blades bent downward, off on the south side of the road.

Daryl Hill, media relations supervisor for Basin Electric Power Cooperative in Bismarck, said a new blade has been ordered but it will be awhile yet before the wind turbine can be repaired.

The wind turbine failure happened April 30 when one of the blades bent.

Hill said the cooperative is investigating the cause of the wind turbine’s failure.

There was a storm with high winds the day of the failure but whether it attributed to the wind turbine’s failure is not known at this time.

Hill said a replacement blade has been ordered but it will be around the first week of June before it gets here.

He said they are waiting to bring in a crane and also waiting for the road restrictions to be lifted. One wind turbine blade weighs 7 1/2 tons, Hill said.

For those with concerns about the safety at wind turbines, Hill said the Public Service Commission has stringent rules, including that a tower has to be 1,400 feet away from a residence.

This is the first time Basin Electric has had a wind turbine with structural failure. The damaged wind turbine is one of 82 wind turbines between Minot and Max.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/05/20/damaged-wind-turbine-to-be-fixed-in-june/