Wind Turbine Report Omits 4 Million In Future Repairs

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Cornelius Moriarty issued the order to shut down Falmouth's Wind 1 and Wind 2 on June 21, 2017.

Prior to the June 2017 complete shutdown Barnstable Superior Court Judge Christopher Muse in 2013 issued the order the turbine can only run 12 hours a day, six days a week, and must be shut down on certain holidays.

The Town of Falmouth is taking down Falmouth wind turbine # 1 and moving Falmouth wind turbine #2 a few hundred feet in order to satisfy several court orders.

The town wind turbines Vestas V-82 type 1.65 megawatts generate 110 decibels of noise according to previous warnings by the manufacturer.

The Town Select Board had a preliminary report given to them several days ago.

A. The report ignored wind turbine blade replacement:

There was no blade inspection of the wind turbines in the report. The blades can be inspected with high-speed cameras using a drone or robot.

Commercial megawatt wind turbine blade damage can also occur during the taking down and replacement of the wind turbines or the transportation to a new location as proposed in the study.

These Vestas V-82 type 1.65 megawatt wind turbines have speeds up to 180 miles per hour at the blade tip. The tips of the blades as they age can become cracked and split leading to blade separation.

The need to replace even one blade requires the replacement of all three blades as they are balanced at a cost of around one million per each blade.

3 Blades--- 3 million

B. The report ignored wind turbine gearbox or bearing replacement:

Refurbished gearboxes have become the new cottage industry of commercial megawatt wind turbines.

There was no study done to determine the condition of the gearbox assessing parts needing repair or defects. The study can be performed using a borescope similar to what plumbers use to inspect the inside of pipes.

A new gearbox can cost up to $650,000.00 along with a special crane can cost up to one million.

The privately owned wind turbine in Falmouth was out of service for months during January and February of 2018 having its blades took off and bearings repaired. The cost of the crane and bearing repairs was never reported by the media.

The only report by the media was the privately owned turbine was having a “normal and routine” maintenance issue.

Repairs up to one million.

The total for the blade and gearbox replacement a common maintenance issue was left out as it could be as high as four million dollars which in this case would require the replacement of the eight-year-old wind turbines.

The question for the public is why was the blade and gearbox inspections excluded from the study?

To answer the omission of gearbox and blade inspection studies one only has to look at the original omission of the Vestas 110 decibel noise warning letter and emails prior to the construction of Falmouth Wind II.

Town of Falmouth, Massachusetts : Wind Turbine Relocation Study Link

October 12, 2018

http://www.falmouthmass.us/DocumentCenter/View/5455/2018-10-15-Weston-and-Sampson-Report?bidId=