Claims that 300 tonne turbines are safe as houses fall hollow with each self-immolation, total collapse and ‘component liberation’ event.
This is an industry that’s killed around 230, so far. And, with events like the one laid out below, the ‘green’ energy death toll can only rise.
Wind turbine heavily damaged in City of Kawartha Lakes
Global News
Greg Davis
22 April 2019
A 5,400-kilogram blade on a wind turbine exploded and shredded near Pontypool in the City of Kawartha Lakes on Saturday morning.
Officials are investigating after a wind turbine in the City of Kawartha Lakes was heavily damaged on the weekend.
On Saturday morning around 9 a.m., residents of the community of Pontypool reported a loud screeching noise. They discovered one of the blades on a huge wind turbine was bent.
Some of the 45-metre-long blade fell to the ground.
John Clifford, operations manager for WPD Wind — the Mississauga company that owns the turbine — told Global Peterborough that incidents of turbine damage are rare.
He had no comment on a possible cause but did confirm the company will launch a probe.
The turbine is one of five located on the Sumac Ridge west of Bethany, an area 30 kilometres south of Peterborough.
The turbines have been operating for three years after longtime opposition from many area residents delayed construction of the project.
Global News
At least the good people of Pontypool can thank their lucky stars that this ‘component liberation’ event didn’t involve a simultaneous self-immolation (see above).
To give you some idea of how far these things can throw their shredded bits and pieces, here’s one from Germany we ran this time last year.
Wind turbine disaster: new 200m wind turbine in Borchen completely shredded
Citizens’ Initiative “Gegenwind Borchen”
Headwind Borchen
9 March 2018
In the late afternoon/early evening of March 8, 2018, two 56 meter blades of a brand-new ENERCON E-115 wind turbine were completely ripped apart – parts flew more than 800m. This is the third heavy windmill incident in Keis Paderborn in the last 2 years.
Neither owner ENERCON nor builder WestfalenWind notified either the public or the police after the incident, even though there was serious danger to life caused by blade shards and flying fragments.
The area around the damaged wind turbine was cordoned off with police patrol cars, only after an Ettelner citizen had notified the police. The perimeter affected by the incident site reached almost to Etteln.
The blades had only been mounted on March 6, and the system was not connected to the mains.
Apparently the machine overran and the blades could not be stopped; the blades were only turning at 19 km/h when they were torn to pieces. How far would parts have flown if the blades had been shredded at higher operating speeds?
ENERCON/WestfalenWind have sought to play down the incident – claiming that the blades were merely “broken off” and dropped directly to the ground.
So, how was it that blade parts were found over 500m from the tower?
It was pure luck that no one was injured in this spectacular and terrifying event involving a brand new wind turbine at Borchen-Etteln.
The shredded windmill sits between Dörenhagen and Etteln in the borough Borchen in the southern circle Paderborn. Just a few meters away, another 6 wind turbines of the same type are currently being built. The turbines are only being built because the CDU and the Greens in the Borchen town council overrode a decision taken by the municipality against these wind turbines last year.
The turbine’s blades disintegrated, spreading splinters and shards of fibreglass over a huge area, many of these fragments are very small (see photos); removing them all will be almost impossible. The result is a true environmental catastrophe; the whole environment is now polluted with tiny glass fibre particles.
How do ENERCON/WestfalenWind expect to ensure that all of its toxic fibreglass is collected and removed?
Borchen Mayor Allerdissen has demanded a halt to further construction, until the cause is properly identified.
The area is now seriously contaminated, covered with thousands of razor-sharp fibre glass fragments and particles, posing a danger to wild animals and grazing cattle. The next hay harvest in the area also poses a risk to cattle, with fibreglass fragments likely to contaminate their fodder.
Locals are now unsure how safe it is to live next to wind turbines that are prone to explode without warning. With so many wind turbines likely to repeat the performance, and huge area contaminated by toxic fiberglass, it’s understandable locals are now sceptical about ENERCON/WestfalenWind’s assurances about safety in the future.
Citizens’ Initiative “Gegenwind Borchen”
STOP THESE THINGS 
Reblogged this on Climate- Science.
to be fair, there is nothing toxic about fibreglass, it is just epoxy and glass fibre in a matrix, used in everything from boats to car bodywork.
To be correct, wind turbine blades are toxic and cannot be recycled for that and other reasons:
And the plastics in the blade are highly toxic, because they contain Bisphenol A, which is so dangerous to health that the European Union and Canada have banned it:
https://quixoteslaststand.com/2014/04/18/environmental-defences-hypocrisy-on-full-display-again-this-time-with-bisphenol-a/
And see:
STT would rather be correct, than ‘fair’.
If you press the Play symbol, you will see that the timeline length will change to 3h 45m in length. Then move the dot along the timeline to the 2hr 38m mark. You could of course just play through the whole program. But you’ll be waiting a while.
ABC Ballarat were again talking wind farms this morning 9th May. They interviewed Hamish Cummings. This has not been posted yet, so I suggest having a look later for today’s show. It will be around about the same time point.
The playback instructions are a little misleading.
Over to you ABC.
Note this is in reply to SandySandy’s comment below STT.
Cheers.
Crispin
I only took out of this interview Steve Martin’s opinion of how over his 10 or so years of experience of the issue, most concerns expressed about wind farms seemed to be fear based.
ABC Radio Ballarat has put up Steve Martin’s breakfast program from this morning dated 8th May. He interviews a Mortlake resident regarding a wind farm meeting from last night, to deal with questions about Acciona’s Mortlake South wind farm. When you open the program, move to the 2h 38m section of the timeline. The interview starts around this point. I cannot say for how long this posting will remain active. I suggest you listen to it asap. Thumbs up to ABC Ballarat for allowing people to listen back to ABC ‘Local’ radio. ABC TV Sydney HQ could learn a thing or two about balanced reporting.
Link below.
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/ballarat/programs/breakfast/breakfast/11065188
Can not get to 2hr and 38 min as the program does not exceed 2 hours.
Works for me.
Got it to work … thank you