Wind turbine destroyed by… wind

The Telegraph reports:

Wind turbine destroyed by wind

A wind turbine was destroyed by 40mph gusts, prompting calls for them to be removed from school playgrounds.

Wind Farm, Denmark / nearby soendervig with Vestas wind mills

Two blades were ripped from the 18m high turbine in the Scottish Highlands and thrown up to 60 yards away after it was hit by 40mph gales. A third was left badly buckled.
The incident has led to calls for all wind turbines to be removed from school playgrounds in the Highlands as the council’s safety trigger for turbines to be shut down currently stands at 80mph winds. According to the Met Office using the Beaufort scale, wind speed over 74mph is classed as a hurricane.
No one was hurt when the turbine at Dunhobby, on Scrabster Hill, near Thurso, in the Highlands was destroyed, but there are fears turbines in playgrounds could put children at risk.
"Surely now Highland Council will take notice and remove wind turbines from school playgrounds. This is not an anti-wind farm issue but a safety one,” said Stuart Young, chairman of Caithness Wind Information Forum (CWIF).
He said turbines are currently in playgrounds at Castletown, Bower and Crossroads, where children are only metres away and called for the council to take action after the incident on Friday evening.
"We should learn from this but experience suggests that it will not be put to good use," added Mr Young.
"Highland Council steadfastly refuses to acknowledge any risk from siting small wind turbines in school playgrounds and considers that only at 80mph - twice the wind speed which destroyed the Scrabster Hill turbine - is there any need to consider action."
Following concerns expressed about the safety of wind turbines in school playgrounds, the council closed them down for a time last year while risk assessments were undertaken, but restarted them this year.
A Highland Council spokesman said: "We are satisfied we have put in place the required risk assessments of wind turbines in schools to ensure their safe operation."
Scrabster farmer John Henderson was granted permission in 2011 to erect the 25.9 metre turbine at Dunhobby but was not available for comment. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/10285964/Wind-turbine-destroyed-by-wind.html



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