Hi All, you may remember back in January 09 we had a blade incident at one of our wind parks, one fell off and one got bent. One was reportedly missing from the scene and then ‘returned’ – but that was just the long grass hiding it.
Without an obvious reason, like lightning for example, we were stumped for a few weeks and into that vacuum stepped a number of ideas as to probable cause. And the story grew from there, and flew round the world.
We promised we’d publish the final Health & Safety report as soon as we got it, and this has taken quite an incredible length of time to get – we got it last week. So here it is.
It doesn’t contain any mention of Aliens, Noodle Monsters or Flying Cows, but it does mention ‘classical fatigue breakage loss profile’ quite a lot. It seems to have basically come down to a manufacturing/tolerance issue – or a gap (between the blade flange and blade adapter – where the blade meets the hub). This gap put extra pressure on certain bolts (that hold the blade on), and eventually they broke.
Our best guess is that the blade that fell off, hit another one on the way down – leaving one whole blade on the turbine, one broken and one on the floor (worse for wear). The surviving blade is now on display at the Ecotech Centre in Swaffham (Norfolk) if anyone wants to see it, or run a Geiger counter over it or something…. 🙂
The speculation was actually great fun, but the fun is over – this report states categorically that:
“The public initial reports and remarks concerning an extraneous cause by third parties e.g. flying objects are already and definitely excluded.”
Sad but true. Unless you think it’s a cover up of course….. 🙂
All the other turbines were checked – no gaps found, or loose bolts. This appears to have been a one off. Certainly it hadn’t happened before and hasn’t since.
So not much more to add really, but there’s plenty of detail in the report if you fancy it.
Final report – one page summary (PDF 32KB)
Final Report – full (PDF 2.6MB
Final Report – amendment (PDF 3.9MB)
Blade flange? Blade adapter? I have to confess my knowledge of wind turbine blade architecture isn’t that great… I hope there’s a picture in the report 🙂
So when you say “All the other turbines have been checked”, do you mean all the turbines in all your wind parks?
Anyway, yes, speculating was fun. I didn’t seriously believe it was anything else…
Hiya Jeffrey
Hope you’re all good?
I just had a quick chat with Simon our Head of Projects & Operations. He said all the other E48 models were checked (i.e all the same models as that one)… hope that helps clarify?
ETA: Yep – there’s pictures in the report 🙂
Cheers
Paul
Hi Paul
yes everything’s all good thanks for asking.
Yes that helps clarify.
Good report! I’m sure engineers/students/lecturers could all use it as an example in fatigue and tolerances…
Hello Jeffrey,
Do students ever need an example in fatigue?
Lecturers, on the other hand, need all the tolerance they can get.
Best regards,
Jonny.
I would be interested to know what non-destructive testing (NDT) was performed on the blade junction point and in the manufacture of the bolts. As a retired Quality Manager (retired) from the oil & gas metering systems industry, a great emphasis was always placed on the length material could overcome metal fatigue.
As seen in the Gulf, just a flaw in valves can cause an ecological disaster, not that I’m suggesting wind turbines would, but lose blades flying around could be dangerous and obviously put a strain on the other parts of the turbine due ti imbalance.
as a wind afficionada – I spoke up for the Shooters Bottom mill at the enquiry – I agree its not great to have blades flying around if possible !! Jist hope no one gets hurt in future incidences (CAN THEY BE GUARDED AGAINST?)
No, no, definitely aliens. Don’t go trying to blind us with mere facts! B^>
Rgds
Damon
That’s such a shame. This country could do with its own Area 51!! Imagine what it could do for tourism in this country. Are you sure you can’t ‘find’ some footage with a flying sourcer firing lazers at your windmill?! Heh heh…
Dale, great to hear about your new Eco-Bonds idea. Obviously being a greenie, all I know is lentil recipes and where to find organic boxer shorts. However if I can get my head ’round this new-fangled participatory slant on capitalism, I may well get involved!! … I would though eventually love to see such funds being spent on a mega ambitious, battery-less pumped storage project. Part of the fight is challenging the myth that renewables which aren’t constant/consistent are pointless.
I already wrote my first cheque for the EcoBonds! I think it’s an excellent idea, and I’m an evil banker.
Rgds
Damon
And just to keep the lawyers and Compliance happy: I’m not making a trading recommendation and I’m not authorised to offer investment advice.
Yes I’m very pleased to hear about the ecobonds idea too! I’m trying to hunt down a bit more financial information about the company first… but I too will probably get involved.
Any chance of seeing more figures (anyone?)? I saw 3 years of revenue, gross profit and EBITDA. I’d prefer 5 years, and I’d like to see Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT), Earnings Before Tax, and Net Income. Will ecotricity make these available anywhere?
Hiya Jeffrey/all,
Just FYI – last 5 years worth of Consolidated Group Statutory Accounts are up here: http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/ecobonds/financial-performance/our-accounts
Thanks
Paul
It’s a shame you can’t gift Eco-bonds for Xmas or even something smaller. I know a few hippys who’d be all over this but unfortunately don’t have £500 to spare for 4 years, and they’re always looking for new presents which aren’t real stuff – manufactured junk which costs the earth and clutters up their small London homes.
Indeed Chris: it would be great if these were also available inside an ISA or a SIPP or Child Trust Fund (or the coming child ISA) so that 20% of the interest paid wouldn’t immediately go to the Tax [wo]man. Hopefully if this issue goes OK then Ecotricity can consider such ‘green’ tax-efficient variants too to reach a wider audience. All of which would encourage longer-term savings/holdings too I imagine.
I’d stick one of these in my kids’ CTFs or whatever if I could, for example.
Rgds
Damon
PS. Repeat of disclaimer from above…
@paul brilliant! Thanks very much
Regards
Jeff
Hi, A bit of a change of subject, Just joined ecotricity for suuplies and also just had a PV generation system retrofitted to my roof. Can recommend my supplier/installer but don’t know if i am allowed to on this blog.
However my thought comes to why not offer a premium above the basic FIT tarrif. You then add to your ECO generation Watts count, take self generators from the big boys who pay the share holders before re investing and also encourage people to become self generators.
Keep up the good work
Steve
Hi, I’ve been a happy customer of ecotricity since reading about the “bills for mills” idea. I’m in frequent discussion with other environmentally minded folk about whether we should be customers of Good Energy or Ecotricity. I have been defending Ecotricity but have not been able to persuade my friends that I am right! Some of them are adament that we should not be buying electricity which may have come from a nuclear power station. I understand the Good Energy supplies only from renewable resources. BUT I am a big fan of building more renewable sources and ecotricity is doing this. I hunted through info on the ecotricity website to try and find some info to back up my argument and I found it, so thanks. Never the less it is sad Good Energy and Ecotricity have to be at loggerheads when it seems that the big problem is our insatiable demand for more energy which allows the big energy companies to ride roughshod over scientific advice and get permission to build new nuclear and fossil fuel power stations.
Personally I wouldn’t buy electricity from someone that does not use nuclear. I’m an ardent technologist and think that Good Energy are definitely idealists/entrepreneurs, while I do feel Ecotricity/Dale run a genuinely conscientious business, and are perhaps more realistic than Good Energy. Although….
Don’t you think its time ecotricity changed its stance towards GMO, particularly in light of the fact that the Green Gas future may well involve clever little GMOs, not to mention alternative fuels, and best of all, they can help feed people that are starving ?
Do/will any of the bacteria in ecotricity’s ADs be GM ? If so its definitely time to change the environment policy.
I’ve always been a fan of GM and that “what the green movement got wrong” program inspired to me bring it up with you, Dale.
I’ve read the article in The Telegraph about Nemesis. It mentions that Dale is an “Eco millionaire”, “multi-millionaire”, “wealthiest eco-entrepreneur”, “multi-millionaire tycoon”, “is worth an estimated £90 million”, “Britain’s wealthiest eco-entrepreneur” and he “now lives in a wing of a country house”. I think they’re trying to tell me something.
There is repeated mention of the fact that the car has been financed with tax-payers’ money through the Technology Strategy Board, with the implication that this is wrong. But isn’t that why the Technology Strategy Board exists, to finance innovative technology?
This is just another strand of the Telegraph’s anti-climate change agenda. I don’t care that Dale may have lots of money. What I care about is that he is dong something about our future and we can join him in doing so.
More power to your elbow Dale!
Here here Tim! .. Exactly what I’ve been thinking. What the Telegraph and the government doesn’t really seem to realise is that for too long now our fortes in Britain have been things like financial services. Making money from,.. well.. erm.. moving money!! Not that I’m totally against it, but it definitely has its limits in terms of effecting the real world around us. Plus it’s recently fallen flat on its arse! It’s a grossly flawed model!
So we urgently must diversify away from ‘fake’ industries like financial services. Why shouldn’t our next crop of millionaires come from green tech?! … Maybe Dale should be shouting it from the rooftops .. “You could do this too!” 🙂
And for every reaction there is a reaction. The Independent published …
Estimated Rate of Global Warming is Tripled in Recent Study
On June 3, The Independent revealed the results of a study published on May 22 in the National Academy of Sciences that has reassessed the rate of CO2 emissions and global warming. It shows that the increase in greenhouse gas emissions is three times higher than the numbers used to generate the frightening forecasts by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in the 1990′s. The growth of CO2 emissions has risen from 1.1% per year for 1990-1999 to >3% per year for 2000-2004. 73% of these global emissions is now from developing countries such as China and Indi …
This study is a cooperation of many respected institutions including Stanford’s Department of Global Ecology, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany, The British Antarctic Survey, The University of East Anglia in the U.K., The Laboratorie des Sciences du Climate et del’Environnement in France, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, Australia’s Global Carbon Project out of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, and was edited by a Harvard Researcher! The authors have declared no conflict of interest, meaning that the information presented is as objective as possible and they have no connections with special interest groups either for or against the climate change argument.
The implications of this are horrifying.
Link to the above report details …
http://theseep.wordpress.com/2007/06/05/estimated-rate-of-global-warming-is-tripled-in-recent-study/
Completely off topic but something Ecotricity to look into:
John O. Dabiri-Order-of-magnitude enhancement of wind farm power density via counter-rotating vertical-axis wind turbine arrays
http://arxiv.org/abs/1010.3656