Broken blades
Regular readers will know about the long and thorny saga behind the new wind turbines at the University of Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. The two turbines have been up for a couple of months now, and have become something of a landmark on the M1 and Sheffield Parkway.
Regular commuters might have noticed something a little different this morning, however.
One of the turbines suffered damage to both blades during yesterday's 'rare summer gales'. As is now rather obvious, one broke clean off.
From the AMRC statement:
One of the AMRC's wind turbines suffered a failure dring the extreme weather conditions this evening.
Prior to the blade failure, engineers were on site monitoring the situation and ensuring the safety of workers and the general public. Police were informed and diverted traffic.
An investigation is now underway by the manufacturers - Wind Energy Solutions (www.windenergysolutions.nl) - any enquiries should be directed to them.
On the face of it, it's not the best advert for the centre's high-tech materials and engineering expertise. But the turbines were bought in as complete units, so its hardly the ARMC's fault. Although really, that shouldn't happen to what is now a pretty well established technology...
Regular commuters might have noticed something a little different this morning, however.
One of the turbines suffered damage to both blades during yesterday's 'rare summer gales'. As is now rather obvious, one broke clean off.
From the AMRC statement:
One of the AMRC's wind turbines suffered a failure dring the extreme weather conditions this evening.
Prior to the blade failure, engineers were on site monitoring the situation and ensuring the safety of workers and the general public. Police were informed and diverted traffic.
An investigation is now underway by the manufacturers - Wind Energy Solutions (www.windenergysolutions.nl) - any enquiries should be directed to them.
On the face of it, it's not the best advert for the centre's high-tech materials and engineering expertise. But the turbines were bought in as complete units, so its hardly the ARMC's fault. Although really, that shouldn't happen to what is now a pretty well established technology...
Labels: technology, Yorkshire
posted by Tim Chapman at 7:53 am
2 Comments:
I'm amazed the blade broke off. Just for reference it is the most westerly of the two. It was about a metre along the blade itself.
Needless to say neither have been in operation since.
The Sun's picked up the story, in its usual style:
A GIANT wind turbine sparked major safety fears yesterday when it was smashed by . . . the WIND.
Major safety fears? Um, no. And it's really not a giant turbine.
A huge propeller broke off the 190ft turbine close to a busy motorway link road.
Again, not really, no.
Last night there were fears the incident could hit the Government’s £100billion plan to build 7,000 wind turbines – providing a third of Britain’s electricity – by 2020.
No, there really weren't.
The Sheffield Star has a significantly less wankerish account.
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