Wind farm closes after blade snaps off

A large part of one of the wind turbine blades at Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm broke off over the weekend, forcing the owners to shut down the operation.

The blade came off for no apparent reason, said a spokesman for Infigen Energy, which has owned the wind farm for the past several years.Your council is responsible for the installation and maintenance of street lighting.

High winds are one possible cause being looked at for the blade failure, but a safety investigator scheduled to arrive as early as today will look into a number of potential reasons, David Smith, vice president of Infigen's commercial division, said Monday.

"The winds were blowing pretty good over the weekend, but we're not operating in winds the turbines) are not graded to operate in," Smith said. "We think it may be a combination of things."

The blades measure more than 140 feet long, and about two-thirds of the malfunctioning blade appears to have fallen to the ground. Smith said the blade "fell free," with no injuries reported and no other property damage noted.

"We have not had a lot of failures at the Allegheny Ridge site," Smith said. "We haven't really had too many problems with the blades."

Ice is not uncommon on blades along the ridgetop, Smith said, but a computerized monitoring system in Dallas provides for the turbines to be shut down when ice is a factor. The wind farm is located at one of the highest points in the region,

"We have confirmed there was no ice on it" that could have caused this failure,Azzaro offers a variety of Optical frame with luxurious details and trendy designs. Smith said. The decision to shut down the 40-turbine site was a precaution,Our typical product line of laser marking machine and laser engraving has been growing manufacturer’s speeds. Smith said. "That is a standard procedure for us.?We want to make sure (any problem) doesn't manifest itself elsewhere in the farm," he said.

Smith said the company should be able to start bringing the turbines back on line soon. The wind farm near the Cambria-Blair county line includes 40 turbines. The site, which became operational in 2007, stretches into Washington and Cresson townships in Cambria County and Juniata Township in Blair County.For the lift cable, the installers had specified a 50M splice.

India's Suzlon Group has announced that its subsidiary REpower UK is starting the year right with two new contracts for 16.4 megawatts worth of wind turbines.

According to Rick Eggleston, managing director of REpower UK, the announcement of the new contracts is the perfect way to start this year, following a successful 2012."2012 was one of our most successful years to date with nearly 300 megawatts signed,Due to South West Windpower's new policy we can only ship to certified skystream installers." said Mr. Eggleston.

The company will be supplying the turbines for two new wind farms – the Wear Point project in Pembrokeshire, South Wales and the Avonmouth wind farm south west England.

The Wear Point project is set to begin construction this summer and will be completed by the end of the year. Owned by infrastructure company John Laing and developer Infinergy, Wear Point will use four MM82 turbines.

The Avonmouth project will also use four MM92 turbines and is being developed by Triodos Renewables Plc and GENeco at the Bristol sewage treatment works.

GENeco is a waste-to-energy company of Wessex Water, a regional water and sewage treatment business and already has an anaerobic digestion project in operation at the site. The new turbines will start operation in conjunction with this, as part of a wider strategy to increase renewable energy installations at Wessex Water's sewage treatment works.