An investigation into the cause of a mysteriously damaged wind turbine has established that mechanical failure was to blame rather than a UFO.
The Telegraph today said wind turbine manufacturer Enercon has been investigating the damage and has now confirmed that the ring of bolts securing the blade to the wind turbine hub did fail.
Enercon are now carrying out further tests to establish what caused the bolts to come loose, looking in particular at the turbine blade and hub parts to which the bolts were attached. It is likely that one of these failed, leading to the bolts being put under significant stress.
Dale Vince at wind farm company Ecotricity said today “The bolt failure was the effect not the cause of the problem. They have ruled out bolt fatigue and design problems, and we know that they were properly put on” What is not clear at this stage is why regular maintenance checks did not pick up a problem.
The turbine has now been rebuilt with new blades and central hub in place.
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March 15th, 2011
This wind turbine thing made a big splash when it was announced, tis good to hear what it actually was. If it was a ufo – those guys are not good at driving hehe..