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Too windy for wind turbines! 165mph gales raise MORE questions about wind farms
Daily Mail ^ | 9th December 2011 | Luke Salkeld

Posted on 12/08/2011 10:36:53 PM PST by george76

Britain was battered by gales of up to 165mph yesterday, leaving a trail of destruction across the country. In one spectacular incident a 300ft wind turbine exploded in flames as it was buffeted by the high winds. Another wind turbine was completely blown down on Wednesday, raising questions about whether wind farms were simply unable to cope with the weather.

...

Today temperatures are expected to plummet with blizzards, snowdrifts and black ice expected in the north, and continuing wind and rain in the south.

The flaming £2million wind turbine was in Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, Scotland. Witnesses said its blades were locked at the time, because the National Grid would be unable to cope with a sudden power surge.

Photographer Stuart McMahon, who took the incredible image, said: ‘The centre of the turbine caught fire first and the flames spread to the covering of the blades.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: energy; globalwarming; windfarms; winds; windturbine
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full title.

Too windy for wind turbines! 165mph gales raise MORE questions about wind farms as gusts leave trail of destruction across country

1 posted on 12/08/2011 10:36:57 PM PST by george76
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To: steelyourfaith

Scottish Power said turbines were switched off .

The storm is also sucking Arctic winds south... a foot on the Scottish hills... a snow risk as far south as Birmingham – the furthest south that snow has been forecast this winter.


2 posted on 12/08/2011 10:41:19 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

It’s that damned global warming.


3 posted on 12/08/2011 10:42:20 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Rebellion is brewing!! Impeach the corrupt Marxist bastard!!)
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To: george76

A £2million, 100metre-tall wind turbine caught fire in hurricane-force winds at Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, Scotland, during severe weather

4 posted on 12/08/2011 10:43:36 PM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: george76
because the National Grid would be unable to cope with a sudden power surge.

Well...just run heater wires under the roads to melt the snow....so stop putting salt down,

5 posted on 12/08/2011 10:48:21 PM PST by spokeshave
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To: Liberty Valance

How exactly do you deal with that in 165 mph winds? Climb up there with a firehose? And look at the forests below it. Did they then catch fire?


6 posted on 12/08/2011 10:48:21 PM PST by Dogbert41 (Israel is real:))
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To: Liberty Valance

We drove by a line of those in WV over Thanksgiving. I’d never seen them so close, and they are HUGE. My thought at the time was a prayer that none came tumbling down as we drove by. There’s something creepy looking about them.


7 posted on 12/08/2011 10:55:14 PM PST by EDINVA
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To: george76

I remember in 1991 when it was announced that variable speed generators had been developed for use in the turbines of these windmills. Above a certain wind velocity, they’re designed to “turn off” and just spin.

But one hundred sixty-five mph is really, really fast. I suppose the towers could be built to withstnad 200 mph winds, but how often would those occur and would it be economic overdesign?


8 posted on 12/08/2011 11:06:33 PM PST by SatinDoll (NO FOREIGN NATIONALS AS U.S.A. PRESIDENT)
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To: SatinDoll

From what I understand, then stop when winds reach a certain speed for a set period of time. They do not turn when that happens.


9 posted on 12/08/2011 11:10:58 PM PST by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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To: gunsequalfreedom

Oh, my! That might be why they catch on fire. These windmills need to spin freely in high winds


10 posted on 12/08/2011 11:13:40 PM PST by SatinDoll (NO FOREIGN NATIONALS AS U.S.A. PRESIDENT)
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To: george76
Too windy for wind turbines! 165mph gales raise MORE questions about wind farms as gusts leave trail of destruction across country

I have issues with wind farms, but a windstorm of sorts is not one of them - 165mph is going to do damage to all kinds of infrastructure. Hell, there were around 20 homes lost in a fire earlier this year just a few miles from my house that was due to incredibly dry conditions and high winds blowing power lines, and the winds were not even close to 100mph.
11 posted on 12/08/2011 11:21:23 PM PST by af_vet_rr
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To: george76; All
Try this...


12 posted on 12/08/2011 11:24:53 PM PST by PieterCasparzen (We have to fix things ourselves.)
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To: george76

The usual approach is to feather the props. Hamilton Standard solved that problem back in the 1930s.


13 posted on 12/08/2011 11:26:08 PM PST by donmeaker (e is trancendental)
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To: george76

Lots of good comments and photos at the original article. Nasty sarcastic comments about wind turbines


14 posted on 12/08/2011 11:46:50 PM PST by dennisw (A nation of sheep breeds a government of Democrat wolves!)
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To: george76

Got a few bugs on this albatross - so to speak.


15 posted on 12/09/2011 12:13:33 AM PST by bossmechanic (If all else fails, hit it with a hammer)
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To: Liberty Valance

wow thats pretty spectacular!


16 posted on 12/09/2011 12:31:20 AM PST by Vanders9
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To: george76

The photos look ... Intense. Is anything in Britain meant to withstand massive and sustained hurricane strength winds? I thought the gulf stream led the vast majority of heavy storms away from them.


17 posted on 12/09/2011 1:39:30 AM PST by texanred
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To: texanred; george76
The photos look ... Intense. Is anything in Britain meant to withstand massive and sustained hurricane strength winds? I thought the gulf stream led the vast majority of heavy storms away from them.

Not really - depends on the current location of the jet stream, which often puts the British Isles directly in the track of North Atlantic depressions. Incidentally, the 165mph speed was recorded on the top of a mountain (Cairgorm). Speeds at inhabited levels were a lot lower, though still exceptional.

18 posted on 12/09/2011 2:02:09 AM PST by Winniesboy
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To: Winniesboy

Ah. That sounds much better. I was imagining 165MPH winds going down my little street. Texas is hurricane country but I might well consider going for a bit of a vacation if that was going to happen. We would be without electricity for weeks at least.


19 posted on 12/09/2011 2:05:12 AM PST by texanred
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To: george76
Although ScottishPower has not blamed the weather for its collapse

I guess it just decided to fall over.

But the spokesman said operators were not paid compensation – ‘constraint payments’ – to shut down yesterday. This happens when operators have to deactivate turbines because the Grid cannot accommodate the energy they produce.

What a deal. They get paid to produce and they get paid when they can produce more than is needed!

20 posted on 12/09/2011 2:07:53 AM PST by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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