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March 28, 2024

Another Invenergy Wind Turbine Blade Failure! –

By John Kraft & Kirk Allen

On April 28, 2014

NEBRASKA (ECWd) –

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This time Invenergy’s blade failure happened April 21st in Nebraska.  Invenergy can’t seem to keep these GE manufactured turbines from falling apart and crashing down into the ground below.  So far, two of these same type of blade failures have occurred in Invenergy’s “turbine noise sleep deprivation science experiment” site in Vermilion County Illinois.
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Speaking of GE turbines, Tipton County Indiana is now the “World Capital of Blade Failures” after those GE 1.6mW-100 turbines had back-to-back failures on Feb 19th and April 2nd.  New York Invenergy projects had blade failures in March 2013 and November 17th, 2013. http://www.nawindpower.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.12302
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THIRTY THREE (33) bad GE blades replaced in Michigan following their November blade break disaster.
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Quotes from wind companies:
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Obviously, we are concerned.”  Scott Simons, a DTE spokesman
(To that we say, “No sxxt, Sherlock!”)
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An Orangeville New York wind turbine blade failure prompted this response from Invenergy:  “No oil was spilled in the incident.”
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How much oil is in these turbines?  Are oil leaks the cause of these turbine fires we have been seeing? ex: A 16 year old daughter came home late one night and said, “Mom, Dad, I wrecked the car.  The good news is that there were no injuries and no oil was leaked.  Can I still have my full allowance (power tax credits) and continue wrecking cars and being a menace to society?”  The power tax credit (PTC) and government mandates are the reasons why wind farms continue to be jammed down our throats.

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It is entertaining to hear some of the responses from wind energy companies after blade failures and/or fires.
Such failures are rare.” E.on Hasson, (E.On Renewables)
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(E.on must take cues from Invenergy’s attorney, Mike Blazer.  This falsehood sounds EXACTLY like something he would say.)The Merriam Webster Dictionary says that “Rare” means:  “seldom occurring or found.”  This is NOT how to describe wind turbine blade failures.Our internet browser took an entire 0.33 seconds to provide these results for “wind turbine blade failure”  This search included NINE blade failures of GE 1.6-100 model turbines.
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Here’s a brief summary of United States wind turbine blade breaks:
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Nov 28, 2012:  Invenergy Vermilion County blade break wrapped blade around the GE 1.6-100 nacell.  (Vermilion County blade failure #1)
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March 11, 2013: A blade broke in half at DTE’s Thumb Wind Park.
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June, 2013:  E.On Renewable’s GE wind turbine blade broke in Settler’s Trail Wind Farm in Iroquois County, Illinois
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Nov 7, 2013: A blade snapped in half and fell to the ground at DTE Energy’s Echo project in Michigan while a newly installed turbine was being commissioned.
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Nov 17, 2013: A blade sheared off on the fifth day of commissioning of “turbine 34” at Invenergy’s Orangeville wind farm in New York state……debris 1500′ away.
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Nov 20, 2013: A second broken blade at Invenergy’s California Ridge project in Vermilion County Illinois (Verm Co blade failure #2)
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Feb 19th, 2014:  Tipton County Indiana E.On Renewables (Tipton blade failure #1)
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April 2nd, 2014:  Tipton County Indiana E.On Renewables (Tipton blade failure #2)
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April 21st, 2014:  Nebraska Invenergy Prairie Breeze blade failure
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These last few days, local residents of Vermilion County have noticed a LOT of increased wind turbine repair vehicle traffic in their area.  Maintenance trucks with “Broadwind” labels are running around the countryside.  The Broadwind company website proudly boasts “Comprehensive blade inspection, repair and remediation”
Well, folks.  This whole situation does not sound rare since there are companies dedicated to do “Comprehensive blade inspection, repair and remediation” and these blade breaks keep happening.
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We’ve seen many banner signs out there in Invenergy’s California Ridge wind farm which say, “Now Entering Wind Energy Sacrifice Zone” and “Ignorance and Greed is what Wind Developers Need” and “Research Shows Turbines Harm Rural Families” and such.  We at Edgar County Watchdogs think they need to add, “Caution: Watch for Falling Turbine Blades” at every wind turbine at 1500′ distances from each turbine because that is the distance blade pieces have been reported to travel.
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 “Falling Turbine Parts: In Case Of A Fire In The Nacelle Or On The Rotor, Parts May Fall Off The Wind Turbine. In Case Of Fire, Nobody Is Permitted Within A Radius Of 500 Meters [1,640ft] From The Turbine.” –Nordex Safety Manual
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If you think wind turbines are “safe,” then look at all of the information and articles here:  http://fairwindenergy.org/HealthSafety.html
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These are dangerous machines which have multiple failures and fires.  They should not be constructed near homes and no children should ever be allowed within 1,640′ of an industrial wind turbine.  It is unthinkable that these things are permitted to be constructed within 1200′ of a residential structure in Vermilion County.  The public health and welfare is not protected with these setback distances.
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Photo from “Albion News Online“.
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4-21-2014-Nebraska-Blade-Break

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15 Comments
  • Molly Bennett
    Posted at 11:52h, 28 April

    Oh..but these are really safe. LOL….I love to hear a good corporate lie once in awhile. They always make me laugh.

  • jannie
    Posted at 15:59h, 28 April

    I don’t disagree with your “Watchdog thinking” about the”Watch for Falling Turbine Blades” at 1500′ distances from each turbine because that is the distance blade pieces have been reported to travel.” But, what I think is unfair is because of poorly written ordinances part of the 1500 feet setback is in my back yard and I didn’t “sign-up” for this hunk of junk piece of equipment — and now I have to be worried about it (blade) flying off into my property! Whatever happen to my peacefull enjoyment of my property.

  • Joe Obvious
    Posted at 16:02h, 28 April

    When these go obsolete they will fall apart and drop parts for years. Look at Hawaii and California where they are abandoned. Anyone who believes these work is a moron. Anyone who is benefitting from the government subsidies is a traitor. Yeah that goes for the greedy farmers with their hands in my back pocket looking for government subsidies.

    • Common Sense
      Posted at 08:51h, 29 April

      This is an interesting comment. Does this mean that everyone using energy in the US is also a traitor? All energy (especially coal and fracked gas) uses government subsidies. Wind and solar get a tax-credit. So the investment has to be made with real investments from banks etc. Only a very small tax credit is being given when the machines produce power. Unlike coal, oil and gas where it is direct subsidies AND tax credits. So if the wind turbines are not running the investors are out the money and they do not get any tax benefits. It is in the wind industry’s best interest to have these machines running as flawlessly as possible. There are over 40,000 people in the US with jobs because of this and most of the machines are made in the US with US parts.

  • Jeff
    Posted at 06:56h, 29 April

    Where were these manufactured with our tax dollars?
    Maybe if they had been manufactured in our country with our tax dollar subsidies, they would have been held to a higher standard

  • jannie
    Posted at 10:48h, 29 April

    Now Common mentions about the “jobs”… well I’d like to get a straight answer on jobs.. are these part of the “green” jobs where if the manufacturer of an airplane bolt — uses that same bolt in a wind turbine it’s a “green” job. And the person who is in the plant that manufacturers the bolt and scrubs the floor are they part of the job. And, the person who operates the computer out of, for instance, Chicago that operates wind turbines in 3 wind projects are they 3 jobs or 1 job or perhaps each individual wind turbine is counted. The maintenance crew of maybe 4 who change the oil on 10 wind projects is that 40 jobs or 4 jobs.
    The construction crew who go from CO to various wind projects is each individual counted again and again as a job.

    • jmkraft
      Posted at 10:58h, 29 April

      LOL – You forgot to talk about all of the so-called “jobs saved”.

    • Common Sense
      Posted at 11:30h, 29 April

      No… I am talking real full-time jobs directly linked to the wind industry. If you add in the part-time jobs and more indirect jobs the number is 75,000. This means the man-hours used in the US to support or manufacture parts. This is not rocket science. It is a good clean business which puts hard working Americans to work producing energy for us all. It is “future proof” and does not deplete our natural resources the same way fracking, oil exploration and mountain top removal for coal does. If we really don’t want to look at these turbines or have the jobs etc, then we need to lower our energy consumption… Who wants to do that?

  • Jack MacBride
    Posted at 12:06h, 29 April

    TO COMMON SENSE, I SAY “GET SOME!”
    First…these contraptions operate in a forced market. That’s not free market….that’s communistic forced purchases dictated by the laws (In Illinois its called RPS). If these are truly economically beneficial…why do they need a forced market?
    Second…these boondoggles don’t get investors until there is a guarantee they are getting the government subsidies. If these were economically beneficial, the investors would be flocking to them WITHOUT any subsidies.
    Third…so called green jobs come at a huge price. 40,000 fairly low paid people working somewhere maybe. How about every coal plant that closes…or now nuclear plant…shutting down thousands of high paid permanent jobs here in this country. (80% of wind turbine manufacturing is done off-shore…meaning we are losing most of the subsidy money and jobs to overseas labor). Turbine workers make less than conventional…and there are very few of them comparatively.
    One last comment on jobs…Spain focused lots of money on creating green jobs. Juan Carlos University did a study that showed for every green job created 2 other jobs were lost in the economy, and each green job cost 800,000 to create. You can find this study on the internet. So, Common Sense, do your homework before spewing misinformation.

  • Al
    Posted at 12:35h, 29 April

    Many (all?) of the failing blades on the GE 1.6-100 turbines were manufactured in Brazil. But, not to worry, the E.on rep, quoted above, says “Such failures are rare”, and our own Tipton County commissioners — who *must* be experts, right? — have publicly stated that there is “no imminent danger”. It will take a seven-ton blade falling on someone’s head, or crashing through someone’s bedroom wall before this foolishness stops…

  • Barry Turhune
    Posted at 13:45h, 29 April

    Common Sense raises a good point…I don’t believe oil/coal/gas need subsidies. But on the other hand…those energy modalities are generally considered economically viable on their own. Wind is not nor is Solar…which means that when people take subsidies for those they are taking money and not producing value for it. So yep…they are traitors in a way.

  • Mike Hershfield
    Posted at 17:49h, 29 April

    Common Sense says if we don’t want wind machines we’ll have to lower our energy consumption. Hmmm “Do what we tell you or you’ll suffer.” Sounds rather coercive. Since these machines don’t provide steady reliable power, which is required in modern society, I believe we’ll have two problems: wind power with less power to consume. Why? Because these don’t work. You must use conventional fuels to get steady reliable power. All regular generators must keep running in case wind stops. It does seem likethis wealth transfer scheme gives lots of subsides to GE while Obama fulfills his promise to “necessarily cause electricity rates to skyrocket.”
    Look up the Eon Netz study from Germany on their own wind installations. Eon is the operator and reported that turbines were only 8% efficient on the grid. In reality, completely unreliable as a source that could be trusted. Grid reliability is the only number that matters, not name plate capacity or any other number thrown around by these companies.
    Common Sense, why are you advocating a system that is completely bogus, fails all common sense understandings, and will help close businesses that can’t afford more energy costs? Just wondering what your benefit is in promoting these things?

  • B.J. Hershfield
    Posted at 18:03h, 29 April

    I have to comment on common sense’s statement “if we dont’ want to look at the turbines or have the jobs we’ll have to reduce energy consumption”. Really? Only two options? We either put up systems that don’t work (wind) or we get punished with less power? Who says those are the only two options? The wind industry maybe?
    For one thing…these don’t produce power that’s valuable because they are intermittent, so by putting these up and cutting conventional fuel generators, we will still have to reduce our power consumption because the cost of available electricity will skyrocket…Just Like Obama Said it Would!
    Common Sense…you sound a lot like a troll for the wind industry.

  • Mackie T
    Posted at 18:57h, 29 April

    They are building these because we supposedly need to stop global warming. Well see this link for a petition signed by more than 30 thousand scientists from this country stating the global warming propaganda is all lies. More than 9 thousand of the signatories are Phd level people.
    http://www.petitionproject.org/

  • Bow Hunter
    Posted at 23:41h, 01 May

    This wind industry has a pretty bad history around the world. I just did some google searches and found a website called windaction.org. Wow do they have the documents.

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