Falmouth Air Base Admits Wind Turbine Gear Box Failures

Falmouth Air Base Admits Wind Turbine Gear Box Failures

Admission Made In Local News Media Titled: Air Force Sees Return In Wind Energy Investment

Between 2009 and 2012 four gear-driven wind turbines were installed in the Falmouth area. One at the air force military base, one at a private corporation and two town-owned wind turbines.

The original companies that produced these four turbines Neg Micon and Furlander have long gone out of business because of gearbox failures. All four turbines have still today have the old planetary and helical gearing. Vestas wind turbine company purchased Neg Micron in 2004.

The owners of these wind turbines get advanced warnings of an impending gearbox failure by the number of microns of metal grindings in oil samples in the gearbox. Once the metal shows up in the oil it’s generally too late and the turbine needs a gearbox replacement. The cost between $600,000.00 and one million if the blades pass inspection.

Military Base Turbine:

The Air Force first shut down the 389-foot-tall turbine, manufactured by Fuhrlander, in May of 2014 after there was an indication the gearbox was failing. Metal flakes were found in some oil..It took time to get the funds approved for a new gearbox and a contract to hire a company to do the work. The project cost was $600,000.00.

The spokesperson for the base admitted a gearbox should have a lifespan of 10 years, but the one on the base turbine only lasted 4½ years and because that specific gearbox is no longer manufactured, it had to be sent to a company in Pittsburgh to be retrofitted.

Base spokesperson: "The Fuhrlander is less efficient as the company which made it has gone out of business and the turbine needs maintenance often."

Privately Owned Wind Turbine:

February 24, 2018 neighbors of the privately-owned wind turbine noticed a massive crane taking the blades off the wind turbine. The turbine is the same type Vestas wind turbine as those owned by the Town of Falmouth.

The news media in the past never reports negative information about wind turbines. When asked how their news media are doing on reporting different political issues fairly, especially negative news about commercial wind turbines people are far more mixed in their sentiments, with many saying their local media does not deliver.

Falmouth Town Owned Turbines:

Cape Cod news media sources heavily invested in Green Energy report the relocation of Falmouth turbines could net the town $5.7 million dollars. These same news outlets portrayed the wind turbines as an unending revenue source forever but repairing these turbines has become another cottage industry in Massachusetts at taxpayer expense.

The Massachusetts courts shut down the two town-owned nuisance gear-driven wind turbines in June of 2017. The litigation and shutdowns of the turbines have cost taxpayers and neighbors of the wind turbines close to 5 million dollars in the past ten years.

The Falmouth Select Board is asking Town Meeting Members on November 12, 2019, for another 2.5 million just to take down the turbines and put them in storage.

The Falmouth Selectboard asked the town council to put out a Request for Proposal to sell the turbines or move them to a new location in January of 2019. There are no updates as of today.

There is no report on the condition of the town-owned wind turbine gearboxes or the blades. The town never discloses negative information as the town has never admitted each of the turbines generates 110 decibels of noise one of the main reasons they were shut down.

A word to the wise to anyone who might want to take or purchase these two town-owned wind turbines. There were four gear driven turbines installed between 2009 and 2012. Two of them have had major gearbox issues what is the next shoe to drop on the Falmouth taxpayers.

Gear Boxes and Blades at One Milion A Whack