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Turbine at Colorado wind farm collapses, burns
CBS Colorado ^ | January 15, 2024 | Logan Smith

Posted on 01/16/2024 6:48:54 AM PST by george76

A wind turbine at a northern Colorado wind farm folded in half and caught fire Thursday morning, startling neighbors who heard banging noises prior to the collapse.

The incident was reported at 8 a.m. No injuries were reported. Oil and grease from the generator caught fire after the tower's collapse.

...

Personnel from the Peetz and Crook all-volunteer fire departments responded. Employees from Invenergy - a Chicago-based company which first owned the wind turbine field and now operates it for the current owner, ClearWay Energy - were already at the site when firefighters arrived, according to Peetz Fire Protction District Chief Steven Schumacher.

"This is the first downed tower we've had," Schumacher said. A tower in Fleming, about a dozen miles southwest of Peetz, collapsed in 2022. The fallen turbine is one of 19 units in the Spring Canyon II project that came online in 2014.

...

Schumacher confirmed the Invenergy employees ensured the fire department did not spray water on the fire until the generator had been grounded or the turbine disconnected from 480,000-volt power grid. His volunteer firefighters know not to do that, thanks in part to annual training sessions with Invenergy workers. But he appreciated the concern for his crew and the continued "good working relationship" with the turbine company.

"Their company does not allow us to go up towers with them," Schumacher explained. "The insurance liability has changed recently, is what we've been told. They are trained in up-tower self rescue. We're there for ground support, as we call it."

...

The turbine is located about a quarter mile north of Logan County Roads 78 and 65. Logan County Emergency Manager Jerry Casebolt called it "a couple football fields away" from the Colorado-Nebraska state line, and joked the unit could have landed in Nebraska if it had fallen in a northerly direction.

Had that improbable scenario actually happened, the burning unit would have come to rest on Jean Meyer's property.

"When it finally came down, the neighbor closer to it than us, they felt the ground shake," Meyer told CBS News Colorado.

Meyer said her family members heard a banging sound prior to the crash of the tower. They ignored the noise, believing it was possibly construction work. But looking back now, they believe "things were letting loose."

"My son got up and went out to the door and said, 'Will you look at that...' My husband got out from underneath the planter and said, 'Holy crap.'"

They speculate a blade malfunctioned and struck the tower, causing the collapse much like the side of a soda can being poked while a person stands on it.

It was foggy and snowing at the time, Meyer said, but not windy.

...

Meyer ... has seen turbine nacelles, blades and generators regularly replaced, and not recycled.

...

the life expectancy of the towers themselves is 25 years.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; Outdoors; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: agw; climatechange; colorado; energy; solar; turbine; wind; windfarm; windturbine
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To: george76

21 posted on 01/16/2024 7:35:57 AM PST by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell>)
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To: george76

This event is a dramatic metaphor for modern America.

This is what happens when you put corrupt, Leftist lunatics in charge.

“All the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again.”

The USA has become a children’s story of disaster come true.


22 posted on 01/16/2024 7:43:37 AM PST by Gnome1949
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To: george76

Get the climate change alarmism facts!

https://www.aclimateconversation.com/


23 posted on 01/16/2024 7:57:08 AM PST by AuntB (Trump is our Ben Franklin - Brilliant, Boisterous, Brave and ALL AMERICAN!)
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To: george76

Meyer said her family members heard a banging sound prior to the crash of the tower. They ignored the noise, believing it was possibly construction work. But looking back now, they believe “things were letting loose.”

“My son got up and went out to the door and said, ‘Will you look at that...’ My husband got out from underneath the planter and said, ‘Holy crap.’”


24 posted on 01/16/2024 8:21:13 AM PST by wardamneagle
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To: calljack

And when the wind does blow, they shut them down if it is too much wind.

But the blinky red lights keep going all night long, visible for many miles.


25 posted on 01/16/2024 8:22:18 AM PST by Scrambler Bob
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To: george76
Wind power uses a lot of oil products. I have read the lubricants have to be changed out every 8 to 12 months.
26 posted on 01/16/2024 8:28:28 AM PST by OrioleFan (Republicans believe every day is July 4th, Democrats believe every day is April 15th.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Drove by a large wind farm yesterday outside of Mojave ca. couple hundred windmills. None turning. No wind. In one of the windiest places in ca. great solution. people are so stupid.


27 posted on 01/16/2024 8:28:45 AM PST by calljack (Sometimes your worst nightmare is just a start.)
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To: george76

The blades on a windmill are shaped like an airfoil, just like an airplane wing. And just like an airplane wing, the low pressure area they create increases the probability of icing. But those blades measure 250-ish feet long each, so when they’re swinging at 60 rpm, the centripetal force is YUGE. So an imbalance among the blades due to even a small unevenness in ice accumulation, or even just spinning too fast (because the wind is too strong), can cause them to tear themselves apart.

So when they detect a blade imbalance (due to uneven icing) or “overspeeding” (from too much wind), they’re supposed to shut themselves down as a matter of self-preservation.

So when you need their output the most, like, say, during A BLIZZARD, they’re never going to be available. By design.


28 posted on 01/16/2024 8:30:36 AM PST by Paal Gulli
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To: Scrambler Bob

I find the red lights at night rather charming. I’d be in favor of getting rid of the turbines but keeping the lights, and maybe adding some green ones for Christmas.


29 posted on 01/16/2024 3:37:46 PM PST by Hootowl
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