Posted on 03/23/2010 6:15:08 PM PDT by Nachum
Europe's largest windfarm was shut down after a blade snapped off one of the huge turbines, operators said today.
All 140 turbines at the Whitelee windfarm on Eaglesham Moor near Glasgow are being inspected by engineers following Friday's incident.
ScottishPower Renewables said mechanical failure or a lightning strike could be to blame for the breakage, which it described as 'highly unusual'.
The 150ft, 14-tonne, fibreglass blade broke off in the early hours in windy conditions and landed at the base of its tower.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I’ll betcha the real reason they shut it down was that it was driving the neighbors crazy.
Lucky guess.
How much energy does it take to build these things and keep them running?
The article says the farm was officially switched on in May of last year.
So they got 10 months of operations out of it, before it started falling apart.
The only thing renewable about that is the repair bills.
Shut it off Friday. It’s now Tuesday. Power generation is overrated anyway.
Oopsie-Daisey.....
Hey yall! Watch this! (Windmill Porn!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u14tBwO5QVQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbMO7ufATBc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkGXoE3RFZ8&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDJpvzoh1Iw
Good question.
I understand that it gets pretty ‘interesting’ when these blades ‘shed’ ice in the winter. Imagine how far & how fast the ice gets slung (flung? flinged?) Whatever...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2x7u4GAqPc&feature=related
>”mechanical failure”
nah. George W Bush went there and cut the blade in half..
Scotland is part of Europe? Dang.
Probably General Electric (NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Universal) crap turbine blades and junk. GE is a scum company.
GE - “Because we kiss Obama’s ass 24x7”
GE “Because our debt is worthless and if it got downgraded we would go under but Uncle Sam is backing our debt.”
Also happened on Cape Cod MA twice this winter:
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100316/NEWS/3160306
I just found out that here in the U.S. that the govt. is underwriting these things, hugely for 10 years. Even at that they are barely profitable. After the subsidy runs out in 10 years, if they last that long, it will be bye, bye.
Beat me to it. I think the break qualifies as a mechanical failure. Yeah that’s it. We’ll just say it was a mechanical failure! It sounds so, well, technical.
Bingo!
ROTFL
Hilarious!
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