Wind turbine collapse

A giant wind turbine crashed to the ground on 13 January 2017 in Scotland. The area was hit by high winds of up to 55mph, but the turbine wasn’t even up and running yet. This “catastrophic collapse” is being investigated.

The three blades and switchgear were all smashed on impact and debris was spread over half a kilometre. According to the source of the story, the energy company “was trying to keep things hush-hush and were not keen to say anything”. They waited seven days to alert the public. Luckily, that farm is being built in an isolated area. “The site is so large and unseen from public roads that the only way to see the collapse is from the air.”

It’s scary to think that had that been a turbine in our area, where the proposed Corracon turbines will be only 500m away from some houses, such massive metal parts could have landed in peoples’ gardens, or worse, their homes.

For more info, you can read the full story in the Daily Record.

Turbine size over the years

The above graphic shows the evolution of wind turbines from 1980 to 2011. The current legislation dates from when turbines were about 50m high and is completely inappropriate now that turbines are more than double that height – and getting taller all the time.

The proposed wind turbines for the Corracon Wind Farm development are planned to be 126m high. In order to visualize the actual size of these turbines in relation to our homes, the scale of a normal two-storey house is also shown in the above graphic.

In the graphic below you can see that a Boeing 747 jumbo jet will actually fit into the blade span of the proposed wind turbines. Note that the turbine in this graphic is actually 31m smaller than the turbines that are being proposed.

jumbo-jet-and-wind-turbine

 

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