| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
After some blades broke off, MidAmerican Energy says turbines are getting upgrade to improve resiliency
Credit: MidAmerican says turbine blades getting upgrade to improve safety | Donnelle Eller | Des Moines Register | Jan. 21, 2021 | www.desmoinesregister.com ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
MidAmerican Energy says the manufacturer of roughly 325 of the utility’s Iowa turbines is upgrading equipment to improve the “blades’ resiliency in extreme weather situations.”
The move follows MidAmerican Energy’s decision last fall to take 46 turbines offline while employees checked them for safety. The Des Moines-based company said three blades broke from turbines last year and one in 2019 after direct or nearby lightning strikes. No one was injured in the blade failures.
The company, owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, isolated the failures to blades made by Danish manufacturer Vestas. MidAmerican inspected all turbines that had Vestas blades and had experienced similar weather conditions. The utility said it made improvements where they were needed.
Now, MidAmerican says Vestas is upgrading its lightning protection systems on about 325 turbines the utility owns in Iowa. The protection systems are designed to channel the energy from any nearby lightning strikes safely into the ground.
MidAmerican spokesman Geoff Greenwood said Vestas is expected to complete the upgrades by late spring, before the peak lightning season. The turbines being upgraded represent about 10% of the 3,321 MidAmerican operates.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=99245 ]
| Tag: Accidents |
