Turbine remains shut down

This 20-foot length of blade broke off from Bartlett’s wind turbine. FILE PHOTO John Bartlett and Wind Energy Solutions have their theories as to why a 20-foot section snapped off from one of the blades on the wind turbine at Bartlett’s Ocean View Farm two weeks ago.

Bartlett is reticent to speak of the wind turbine’s failure after only nine months of operation until the Netherlands-based WES has done a thorough diagnosis of both blades and its rotor.

“At this point, there are some theories out there, but it’s not something that I’m publicly ready to put out there,” said Bartlett. “We’ve dismantled the rotor and taken the blades down and we’re looking to get those replaced.”

The 145-foot WES30 wind turbine designed to generate up to 560,000 kilowatts annually to power all of the farm’s electrical needs is rated to spin up to 134 mph, but as a failsafe, turns out of the wind and shuts down automatically if it spins 56 mph for more than five minutes or if any of its parts sustain damage. On Jan. 17, the winds gusted to 36 mph on Nantucket and topped out at 51 mph on Jan. 18, the day of the incident, according to the National Weather Service.

The day after the blade broke, two engineers from Lighthouse Electrical Contracting of Rockland, Mass., which installed the WES turbine for Bartlett’s Farm last March, climbed up inside the tower to reach the generator and inspect it and its blades. WES engineers have since inspected the wind turbine, and both blades along with their rotor have been removed from the turbine.

Bartlett said that when the WES engineers return to repair the turbine, they will replace both blades.

“They’re a pair and they need to be balanced and there are some things that need to be done. We’re going to send the rotor back to Holland because there are some seals that need to be replaced,” said Bartlett. “It’s probably going to be a while before the thing is back up and running.” I