August 20, 2015
Massachusetts

Slow winds, not lightning stall turbine

By Ruth Thompson | Scituate Mariner | Aug. 20, 2015 | scituate.wickedlocal.com

The Scituate Wind turbine survived the storm on Saturday (Aug. 15) unscathed, according to Gordon Deane, president of Palmer Capital Corporation, the manager of Scituate Wind, LLC.

“We have no indication of a lightning hit,” said Deane on Monday, Aug.17. “There was a blown fuse and grid loss.”

There were power fluctuations during the storm in different areas of Scituate, Cohasset and Hingham, Deane said.

“Service technicians went to the site Sunday morning to replace the fuse, and the turbine has been operating since then,” he said.

Al Bangert, director of special projects, said he was not aware of any issues with the turbine due to the storm.

“Today is low to no wind,” he said on Aug 17 as to why the turbine was not operating.

Deane agreed.

“Presumably it’s not producing due to low winds, which commenced around 8:30 this morning,” he said.

Wind direction and speed can affect the turbine, which can rotate 360 degrees and will slow to a stop in order to shift with the wind for optimal production.

Just because the blades of the turbine are not spinning does not mean the turbine is down, Bangert recently said.

It was believed the Scituate Wind turbine was struck by lightning in June of 2013, which caused a number of errors within its electronic systems and shut the turbine down for several weeks.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/08/20/slow-winds-not-lightning-stall-turbine/