December 9, 2016
England

Wind turbines off the A30 near Truro that were still for more than a year have stopped working again

December 08, 2016 | www.cornwalllive.com

It’s beginning to feel a little bit like Groundhog Day when it comes to these giant wind turbines near Chiverton Cross on the A30.

Just three months after the turbines at Four Burrows Farm at Chybucca finally started turning again after being halted for well over a year, it seems the problem is back.

Since April 2015 the 4.5MW power generators, which started operating in 1995, have barely moved. And eagle-eyed passers-by were keen to point out their lack of turning.

The 15 turbines were then on and off until April this year when the Renewable Energy Systems (RES) Ltd, the firm responsible for the site, had a new transformer installed to try to resolve the problem.

But less than six weeks later they stopped again and then remained out of action since June 11 when fault was discovered with the transformer.

This was repaired and the devices were turning again by September – only to stop a fortnight ago.

Pablo Sayer said he spotted first one or two of the turbines had stopped before the others followed suit.

He said: “It took such a long time to get them fixed last time and here we go again. It doesn’t seem right to me.”

He believed that if the turbines were failing to generate electricity then they were simply a “blight on the landscape”.

Mr Sayer said he was also worried that Cornwall Council was granting permission for wind turbines “carte blanche” and that there were no “checks and balances”.

CornwallLive has approached Cornwall Council for comment but not yet had a response.

Rachel Anderson, community relations manager for RES, said the turbines went “back online on 1st September, but unfortunately came offline recently due to a fault with the site grid transformer”.

She said although there was an ongoing problem with the site’s grid performer there were no plans to decommission the machines at Four Burrows Farm.

RES said it was “working to get the site back online as quickly as possible”.

The spokesman added that all relevant stakeholders, including Cornwall Council, were being kept informed.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/12/09/wind-turbines-off-the-a30-near-truro-that-were-still-for-more-than-a-year-have-stopped-working-again/