Neighbor News
Air Force Denial of Cape Cod Wind Turbine Gear Box Failure
Otis Air National Guard Base aka Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC)
Air Force Denial of Cape Cod Gear Box Failure
Fuhrlaender (FL-1577) Failure AFCEC
Rose Forbes
While I appreciate everyone’s interest in the success of wind energy, I feel I must clear up the issues associated with the Otis Air National Guard Base wind turbine located at the MA Military Reservation. The owner/operator of the Otis ANG Base wind turbine is the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC). Our name changed from Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment (AFCEE) on 01 Oct 2012 after a reorganization. I am the project manager for the operation of our pump and treat systems, the plume cleanup, and the three 1.5 MW wind turbines installed by AFCEC/AFCEE at MMR. We have one 1.5 MW Fuhrlaender (FL-1577) wind turbine and two 1.5 MW GE wind turbines at MMR. We installed the wind turbines to offset the costs and environmental impact associated with our cleanup program.
The FL-1577 started operating on 02 Dec 2009. The GE turbines started opeating on 03 Nov 2011. Regarding the FL-1577 gearbox, it HAS NOT failed. We noticed some metal flakes in the gearbox oil this past January and had a borescope inspection done. The inspection showed pitting of the gear teeth caused by pressing the metal flakes between the teeth. The problem component in the gearbox appears to be a bearing. Based on Fuhrlaender’s recommendation, we are continuing to run the wind turbine while we work on procuring a new gearbox that has a different/better bearing. We monitor the turbine continuously via remote monitoring for a variety of parameters and we have technicians who visit the turbine each weekday during rounds conducted for our treatment systems.
We expected the gearbox to last for 10 years and it still might but we are going to err on the side of caution and replace it given te results of the borescope inspection. I do not have replacement costs to report at this point as we are still developing the plan; but, I will be glad to provide this information when it is available.
As an engineer, I like to have facts and I like to see things work optimally. If they break, we determine why and we fix them. We don’t waste our time on rumors. If anyone would like to get the facts on the wind turbines at MMR including how much they are saving the taxpayer and offsetting air emissions, please feel free to contact me at
rose.forbes@us.af.mil.
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/falmouth-ma/T49IPB9TLSCS60M2U
