Credit: By Brian Boesen | KWQC 6 | Published: February 10, 2015 | kwqc.com ~~
Driving down a county road in Henry County, Illinois, it’s not hard to spot the wind turbine with a broken blade. There are hundreds of turbines in the area but only one with two blades instead of three.
The service road to Invenergy’s Unit 106 is blocked off along 1700th St. south of 850th Ave. The turbine’s owner tells KWQC, the blade broke the morning of January 1st. No one was hurt and the cause of the blade failure is under investigation.
A statement from Invenergy’s spokesperson reads, “We are working with the turbine manufacturer to determine the cause of this incident. Blade replacement is scheduled for this spring.”
The property owner and neighbors didn’t want to be interviewed on camera about the turbine but one neighbor tells KWQC, they’re surprised about the break but not concerned.
Turbines dot the Henry County landscape. The large wind turbines are in fields away from homes and…CONTINUE READING…
2 Comments
Gerard Schilling
Posted at 08:06h, 12 FebruaryNo doubt the blades or steel were made in China so what would you expect?
Ted Hartke
Posted at 09:05h, 12 FebruaryIt is published that these GE blades are manufactured in Brazil (not China)…….
Look here: http://www.rechargenews.com/wind/americas/article1343662.ece
(I am not an expert, but I do not think they came from China.)
I don’t know for certain where these towers are constructed because they don’t fly off and endanger my family, property, and neighbors near as much as blades. I also think there is a greater concern about fires compared to the likelihood of a tower problem. I have read that the safety evacuation zone (published by wind turbine manufacturer) for workers is 1,680 feet UPWIND if there is a fire or runaway problem. If a blade cannot withstand these normal operating conditions, it is my opinion there will be catastrophic problems for neighbors if a malfunction occurs.
Once, when InvEnergy was shutting down turbines so we could sleep at night, they were unable to shut down their turbine because “they had to re-boot their computer system.”
This seems crazy, but it is true that there are times when InvEnergy does not have any control over their remote operation of turbines. Don’t let anyone ever build these machines too close to anyone’s home.