Weather Wages War on Wind Power: Typhoon Topples Turbine in Japan

How ironic it is that a wholly weather dependent power source has such a bitterly hard time coping with the … ahem … weather.

When Hurricane Maria visited Puerto Rico last year, she managed to splatter wind turbine blades all over the island, leaving residents completely powerless: Weather Dependent Wind Power: Leaves Hurricane Victims Powerless

A typhoon in Taiwan did much the same:

And lightning has been laying them to waste in Ireland:

It’s almost as if Mother Nature has got it in for these things? This time a little blow in Japan managed to knock another one out of the game.

Awaji Island wind turbine topples over as typhoon cuts through western Japan
The Japan Times
Kyodo
24 August 2018

KOBE – A 60-meter-high wind turbine erected in a park on Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture toppled over in the early hours of Friday as powerful Typhoon Cimaron passed through western Japan. No injuries were reported, local authorities said.

The wind turbine was built in 2002 to generate electricity for facilities at the park, which was created in memory of the Great Hanshin Earthquake that devastated parts of Hyogo Prefecture in 1995. It had been out of commission since lightning struck nearby in May last year, according to an official in Awaji city.

The giant windmill was found to have collapsed at around 6 a.m.. Parts of it had fallen onto a road that runs alongside the park.

Strong winds also tipped over trucks on the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge that connects Awaji Island and Honshu. Three people were taken to hospital, with two of them having sustained minor injuries.
The Japan Times