Posted on 06/15/2014 3:27:11 PM PDT by PoloSec
A team of storm chasers from Tea, South Dakota, spotted a wind turbine damaged by a lightning strike ear Ruthton, Minnesota. The Tea Storm Chasers gave me permission to post the image here.
The only wind farm I can find in the area is relatively old. The Ruthton Wind Farm went online in 2001. It's operated by Xcel, a large utility.
One thing we do know: Lightning strikes on wind turbines happen frequently. A 2007 journal paper on lightning protection for wind turbines reported that lightning damage is the "the single largest cause of unplanned downtime in wind turbines."
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
A little Cialis will fix that.
i would guess turbine brake failures are #2.
Wow those blades are expensive. I guess the customers will pay to fix it.
Bigger downtime than Lightning strikes is cold weather drove through Wisconsin Texas Minnesota in fall/Winter 5% of 20 Windmills rotate. the Ones along a Highway the other 19 in the row just watch!
I have a not-so-obvious question. Or maybe it is. If they are for the purpose of generating electricity, why not capture the energy of a lightning strike? After all, Doc Brown did it in Back to the Future. All you need is a huge capacitor.
A FLUX capacitor, not just any ol’ capacitor!
Well DUH! They are the tallest things around, and they’re metal, besides!
Doesn’t look like that windmill is compliant with the EPA’s new Carbon Pollution mandates.
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