While massive subsidies fuel the wind industry, self-generated myth and polished propaganda just grease the wheels.
For wind industry spin-kings, one pesky problem that won’t go away is the routine and catastrophic collapses of these 300 tonne whirling wonders.
Over the last few years, there have been hundreds of ‘structural failures’ – where either 10-15 tonne blades are shredded or flung in all directions; or their 90-100m towers implode, unceremoniously delivering the 80-100 tonne nacelle to terra firma, with terrifying effect.
But these ‘fun facts’ don’t sit comfortably with the wind industry’s claims of being safer than gold ensconced in Fort Knox.
When one of these things explodes, implodes or self-immolates, the stock-standard response from the operators is to stay schtum, in the hope that the dangerous debacle simply blows over.
However, when the photographs taken by locals emerge, the last redoubt is claiming that these are ‘extremely rare events’, the ‘first of their kind’, ‘we’ve launched a thorough investigation into the event’, blah, blah, blah.
See if you can spot the spin doctor’s best efforts in the pieces below.
Wind turbine collapses outside Hunter; cause under investigation
Enid News
Mitchell Willetts
22 May 2019
HUNTER, Okla. — Enel Green Power North America is investigating why a wind turbine belonging to the company collapsed Tuesday, May 21, 2019, near this rural community.
“Enel Green Power North America is working with the turbine manufacturer GE to investigate an incident that occurred yesterday involving a turbine failure at our Chisholm View II wind project in Grant County, Oklahoma,” the company said Wednesday in a statement. The wind farm’s footprint extends into both Grant and Garfield counties.
According to EGP, there were no injuries as a result of the incident.
The turbine was part of Enel Green Power’s 6,000 acre, 64.8 megawatt Chisholm View II wind farm, located immediately east of Hunter.
This wind farm was built adjacent to the original, much larger, Chisholm View project, which sits on 45,000 acres. Construction of Chisholm View II began on the project in summer 2012, and the wind farm began operating in 2016, adding another 64.8 megawatts to the first project’s 235 megawatts.
Access to the turbine was blocked Wednesday morning for safety, an Enel Green representative near the site said. Nobody had been within 300 feet of the GE 2.4 megawatt turbine since it collapsed, he added, though one employee had piloted a drone up to the wreckage earlier in the day, attempting to assess structural damage.
Workers were waiting on an Enel Green investigation team to arrive at the site to determine cause, he said.
“Our first concern, as always, is ensuring the safety of our workers, contractors and the surrounding communities, and given the ongoing nature of the investigation, we ask that the community avoid the area of the incident,” the statement said.
Enid News
General Electric drops its turbines in the US: two wind turbines collapse in three months
Elperiódico
Ramón Roca
25 May 2019
Translated from Spanish
The wind turbine manufacturer GE Renewable Energy has a serious problem in the US. Its turbines are collapsing without warning. This week a GE turbine in Oklahoma, at a wind farm owned by the Italian group Enel, collapsed a few months after a similar collapse occurred at another North American wind farm.
At the moment they are investigating the causes of this collapse, but everything indicates that it was caused by strong wind that occurred in the area.
According to the Rechargenews portal, “Enel Green Power North America is working with the turbine manufacturer GE to investigate an incident that occurred on Tuesday that involved a turbine failure of our 65 MW Chisholm View 2 wind project in the county of Grant, Oklahoma.”
“There were no injuries as a result of the incident, and their cause is still being investigated at this time. Our first concern, as always, is to ensure the safety of our workers, contractors and the surrounding communities. This is an isolated incident. The wind farm continues to generate energy while the investigation continues, “says the Italian owned company.
This incident is isolated for Enel, but not for GE that has suffered other turbine collapses, including one in February at the Mesa Mesa Wind Energy Center, in the state of New Mexico, a wind farm owned by NextEra.
Both investigations continue, but it is a clear sign that something went seriously wrong.
Elperiodico
So, Enel Green Power North America has launched its very own investigation into the causes of the catastrophic collapse. [Note to Ed: have they thought about gravity?]
Well, it would be rude if STT didn’t provide the boys and girls at Enel with a few other examples to help them nail the culprit.
Here’s a few from the archives, starting with a few tower collapses:
With gravity one of nature’s constants, wind farm neighbours can hardly rest assured. Expect more of the same.
Then there is the ‘minor’ issue of ‘component liberation’.
Turbine blade failures, including events where 10-15 tonne blades are thrown to the 4 winds are so common that we have considered running a separate site dedicated to their aerial escapades – here’s a few to whet your appetite for destruction (the captions are linked to the stories behind the pictures):
Now that those who are forced to travel past, live with and work near these things know how exceptional it is for 10-15 tonne blades to be thrown to the 4 winds; how unlikely it is for 60-80 tonne rotors or 80-100 tonne nacelles to drop 90-100m from the heavens; and how rare it is for an entire 160m high, 300 tonne turbine to plummet to Earth, we expect you feel a whole lot safer. No?
Welcome to your wind powered future!
STOP THESE THINGS 
@Fred Johnston, the coal mine companies in most countries but especially the USA and Australia are required to reclaim as they go. They also have to post a large bond so if they do go bankrupt they have funds to finish reclamation. As for coal power plants, the companies that own them reclaim the sites to equal or better then prior. One east of Grand Junction CO looks spectacular. You would never know it had been there if you weren’t from the area, and it was one of the first to go in in the country.
Poorly designed
No, perfectly designed to harvest subsidies, kill birds and bugs and bats, drive neighbours nuts with noise etc.
And who gets left with the bill for open cut coal mines and coal fired power stations
Coal miners and the owners of coal fired power plants are bound by conditions of their planning permits to remediate their sites. Have a look at the conditions placed on Adani, for example. No such conditions apply to wind farm operators, that’s why 30,000 wind turbines are left rusting on sites across the USA.
Exactly! They also don’t have to comply with bird kill regulations, waived by obummer crime syndicate. They have some of the bigest subsidies and waivers in history of the USA now, thanks to laws passed by executive order in the last organization!
The proponents calmly described it as a “blade detatchment” as occurred March 2017, Gullen Range Wind Farm, NSW
Get rid of the useless things now
Who pays for clean up when these things collapse? Is that covered in the land owner’s lease of their land? Who pays to remove the worn out turbine in less than 20 years? Will the energy companies come and remove the things at the end of the lease term? Or is the land owner left holding the bag — how many of them thing about that? How hard will it be for the energy company to isolate its local wind operations in a subsidiary and then run the subsidiary through bankruptcy when clean up time comes?
Is there an international wind turbine collapse data base? Seems this would be a sensible thing particularly as with age the dreaded fatigue fracture starts taking its toll.
This is probably the best record
Click to access accidents.pdf
Most grateful for this. Should be made very public.
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