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A FLAMING WIND turbine blade almost sparked a forest fire in Cork after it was thrown several metres from the machine.
The cause of the fire the wind farm in Cork is currently under investigation.
A flaming 28-metre-long blade from one of the turbines flew as far as 100 metres away from the machine and landed close to nearby gorse and forestry.
The turbine, a Gamesa G58, is a common model in operation across the world, but industry experts say it has ‘a strong safety record’.
The incident occurred at the Cappaboy Beg Wind Farm in Co Cork on 19 June.
A spokesperson for Bantry Fire Station told TheJournal.ie their main aim was to contain this fire, to ensure it didn’t spread to forest and gorse. The turbine was completely destroyed.
They said it took ‘a couple of hours’ to bring the blaze under control due to dry conditions caused by a spell of good weather.
Similar incidents, known as “blade throws”, can often occur during very high wind speeds.
However, this incident, first reported by the Cork News (P10), occurred in relatively calm conditions but during one of the hottest spells so far this year. A peak of 280MWs of electrify was produced on the day of the incident.
Prolific
A source close to manufacturer Gamesa told this website that they are one of the most prolific machines with a ‘great reliability record’, and that there is little suspicion that it was a technical failure.
It is understood an investigation is currently under-way.
The source explained that turbines are complicated industrial equipment containing a large amount of electronics.
“Rare combination”
“You can have a spark and an oily rag, some rare combination like that”, he said, “It was a hot day with little wind and so a lot of dust could have accumulated.”
He added that it is unlikely that blades on these common turbines would be thrown a large distance during a fire.
“They’re made of plastic, and will simply melt,” he said.
“The turbines themselves are build on hardstands consisting of rocks. Any plastic, or other material, that falls down is unlikely to spread.”
Late last year, a Gamesa turbine at a separate farm close to Killybegs was the subject of an investigation after a blade tip snapped off, reNews reports.
However, this incident occurred during high winds.
An owner of the wind farm and the Irish Wind Energy Association both declined to comment on last month’s incident
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The producers are bluffing the EU, Ireland is doing it right. Aldi and Lidl do this here too – you can see exactly where the fish was caught, how it was caught and even the scientific name of the kind of fish. It obviously doesn’t cost Aldi and Lidl huge amounts to respect customers enough to supply information.
New law! How about enforcing the old laws that would be a start.
Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
This is why intelligent humans choose vegetarianism.
@Tommy_Bannon: Closing the stable door after the horse was eaten , to be more precise
Don’t forget there are plenty of intelligent people who eat meat too.
If you want to be healthy try cutting animal products from your diet. Processed meat that comes in a packet can’t be good for you. Either can milk from another animal that full of hormones and puss..
European milk does not contain hormones or ‘puss’. Every delivery from every farm is checked for temperature, antibiotics, bacteria etc. So stop spreading downright lies about the food we produce.
@Mick: of course there’s hormones in milk. You do realise dairy cows are constantly impregnated to produce milk. Cows like women are full of hormones while pregnant and those naturally produced hormones go into their milk to help bulk up calves. Its not intended for human consumption.. If you’re happy drinking and eating another animals milk go ahead.. Each to their own i suppose
I’m a dairy farmer myself. I understand completely the process works. What you are implying is false though. Natural, grass fed milk contains nothing untoward, we’ve been drinking milk for thousands of years. It’s when people start adding sugar and salt, E numbers and artificial chemical additives is when the trouble starts.
@Mick: Mick im not implying anything false. Cows milk is full of hormones, hormones that nature intends to help calves bulk up hundreds of pounds. It is not intended for children or adults to consume.
The natural hormones in milk are not in unusual quantities to cause any harm in humans. The levels of protein, butterfat etc in the 6L+ of milk that a calf consumes are responsible for growth. Generations of Irish people have eaten beef, dairy, eggs etc without issue. Obesity has only become an issue in this country since the 70′s, due to the advent of cheap, highly processed foods, the likes of coca cola with 30g+ of sugar per serving.
@Cosmo Kramer: backtrack much?
What about products labelled as Irish but brought down from the Uk?
No mention of take always etc imposing their religious beliefs on you, if you buy a ham pizza at many hundred placed you may be served dyed turkey NOT ham because these people don’t have any respect for you, nor your freedom to eat what you choose. It is often written on menu boards but often it won’t; it is dishonest but not illegal make sure your ham is not turkey meat dyed pink a common practice these days but The EU respect our rights on these issues.
Any particular reason a Lidl own-brand product was chosen to illustrate the story? Is there something we should be told?
Anybody .anywhere.here or abroad held accountable for putting shit into our food in the form of un regulated horse meat?anyone..
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