FENNER — Engineers probing the collapse of a 190-ton turbine in rural Madison County have a lot of work ahead of them because the type of crash that occurred at Fenner Wind Farm appears to be unprecedented, officials from the wind farm operator said.
The turbine that crashed at about 4 a.m. Dec. 27, 2009, on the wind farm located northeast of Cazenovia became dislodged from its foundation.
That’s an unusual situation, said Hank Sennott, a spokesman for Enel North America, the company that operates the farm. Other documented crashes have occurred when turbines have spun out of control and split closer to the center hub of the turbine, he said.
“As far as we know, it’s never occurred anywhere else,” Sennott said of the type of collapse recorded in Fenner. “This is significant in terms of the impact it’s going to have on this industry.”
Enel North America’s most recent efforts to discover what caused the collapse include testing the soil surrounding the base of the fallen turbine as well as testing the concrete and steel found in its foundation.
Those samples were sent to labs several weeks ago to be compared against similar samplings taken from some of the other 19 turbines that remain intact at the wind farm. Officials are awaiting the results, Sennott said.
Last week, a team of engineers also began selectively inspecting the other turbines at the farm to compare them to what was found at the crash site. Temporary fencing will be erected around other turbines as they are testing as a safety precaution, and the engineers will not be climbing inside the turbines, which have remained out of service since the accident.
“We’re being abundantly cautious here,” Sennott said.
Officially originally predicted that the cause of the crash would be determined by the end of January, however, it’s now unknown when a report will be complete.
Data found in the collapsed turbine’s computer showed that the turbine was operating normally before it crashed, and its blades did not spin out of control.
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