May 23, 2013
Ontario

Still no word on turbine fire cause

By Gerard Creces, Goderich Signal Star | Thursday, May 23, 2013 | www.goderichsignalstar.com

There is still no official word from Capital Power as to the cause of an April 2 industrial wind turbine fire.

“Right after the fire we had some techs here and the root cause investigation is underway,” said site manager for Capital Power, Dan Hayden. “I think we are making some headway.”

While the investigation has brought to light some good information, he said the reports are far from complete. Capital Power is not sharing the cause just yet.

However, there is a repair plan in place already, and replacement parts for the damaged turbine have been ordered. The exact schedule depends on manufacturing and shipping the replacement parts. Because of their size, the parts will have to be shipped by train.

The work will also need to be coordinated to do the take down of old parts and reinstallation of new.

The turbine’s nacelle, which houses the generator, was severely damaged in the fire, as were all three turbine blades. Replacing the damaged parts will be much the same as the construction process, Hayden said, except from the top down instead of the ground up.

The bottom line, he said, is that investigation is underway, and replacement parts are in the process of being ordered. The repairs should be done for summer.

The turbine caught fire early in the morning of April 2, on Golf Course Road by Loyal Line. The fire department received a call about 1 a.m. and the fire burnt itself out by 3 a.m. The turbine is built so that it shuts off from the grid automatically in such an emergency.

[rest of article available at source]

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/05/23/still-no-word-on-turbine-fire-cause/