Accidents
Several cases occurred where the housings of wind turbines caught fire. As housings are normally out of the range of standard fire extinguishing equipment, it is nearly impossible to extinguish such fires on older turbine units which lack fire suppression systems. In several cases one or more blades were damaged or torn away. In 2010 70 mph (110 km/h; 61 kn) storm winds damaged some blades, prompting blade removal and inspection of all 25 wind turbines in Campo Indian Reservation in the US State of California. Several wind turbines also collapsed.
| Place | Date | Type | Nacelle height | Rotor dia. | Year built | Reason | Damage and casualties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellenstedt, Germany | October 19, 2002 | ||||||
| Schneebergerhof, Germany | December 20, 2003 | Vestas V80 | 80 m | ||||
| Wasco, Oregon, USA | August 25, 2007 | Siemens | Human error: turbine restarted while blades were locked in maximum wind-resistance mode | 1 worker killed, 1 injured | |||
| Stobart Mill, UK | December 30, 2007 | Vestas | 1982 | ||||
| Hornslet, Denmark | February 22, 2008 | Nordtank NKT 600-180 | 44.5 m | 43 m | 1996 | Brake failure | |
| Searsburg, Vermont, USA | October 16, 2008 | Zond Z-P40-FS | 1997 | Rotor blade collided with tower during strong wind and destroyed it | |||
| Altona, New York, USA | March 6, 2009 | Lightning likely | |||||
| Fenner, New York, USA | December 27, 2009 | ||||||
| Kirtorf, Germany | June 19, 2011 | DeWind D-6 | 68.5 m | 62 m | 2001 | ||
| Ayrshire, Scotland | December 8, 2011 |
Read more about this topic: Wind Turbine
Famous quotes containing the word accidents:
“I can forgive even that wrong of wrongs,
Those undreamt accidents that have made me
Seeing that Fame has perished this long while,
Being but a part of ancient ceremony
Notorious, till all my priceless things
Are but a post the passing dogs defile.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The day-laborer is reckoned as standing at the foot of the social scale, yet he is saturated with the laws of the world. His measures are the hours; morning and night, solstice and equinox, geometry, astronomy, and all the lovely accidents of nature play through his mind.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)