Is it just me or is there a delicious symbolism in the location of this downed bird chopper?
A 38-ton wind turbine crashed 50 meters to the ground in Kyoto Prefecture after the steel column supporting it snapped, according to officials.
The massive Dutch-made turbine, which sat atop a Japanese-made steel column, was part of a mountain wind farm. It was put up in 2001 with an expected life of at least 17 years.
βWe are asking experts to look into the cause of the problem. We suspect metal fatigue might have played a role,β a local government official said Thursday, adding no one was injured.
The smashed turbine was discovered Wednesday although it is not known when it fell at the remote facility. A strong windstorm struck wide areas of the nation around that time.
Wind farms have sprouted across large stretches of Japan over the last two decades as the resource-poor country seeks to capitalize on its natural bounty.
Image and story from Japan Times
Only two of Japanβs 50 nuclear reactors are in operation and public opposition against restarting reactors remains strong.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
So the long term solution to our energy needs is short term windmills? π
Heck, that’s nothin’. In the great US state of Texas, where the winds are bigger, ya can blow away several windmills at a time (scroll down the page here for the pics): http://www.srh.noaa.gov/maf/?n=events_091208
[…] right. It collapsed in Kyoto! […]
The magic that is Google translate, brings you
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Michael:Lol
I misread it as:
“We hope Dutch warranty better than Dutch design”
Not short of irony.
[…] Photo of the week: Kyoto wind turbine hits theΒ deck […]
Another blow for the wind power industry π
No wonder Japan is researching clathrates.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21752441
The irony is indeed delicious. As someone form a manufacturing background I would have to say that if you had such failures in the real world of non-subsidised business these manufacturers would have gone out of business years ago.
What many people haven’t grasped yet is that the subsidies that attract so many to buy and erect these monstrosities also do to wind turbine manufacturing what state ownership did to the British car industry.
And from conversations I have had with mechanical engineers, don’t expect many of the gearboxes on these machines to make it to design life. And once they break, even after as short a life as 5 years, which is far more common than one would imagine, they are uneconomic to repair. Most of the public even begun to understand just how much of an economic disaster these things are. All the while our useless and brain dead politicians want to erect more.
“The smashed turbine was discovered Wednesday although it is not known when it fell at the remote facility”
Surely it was obvious the moment it fell because of the massive drop in electricity current? All the lights flickering, wasn’t that a clue?
Oh… right!
Let us have some major companies send everyone home (without pay) when there are brownouts from inadequate electricity supplies. Then ask who wishes dependable power from nuclear reactors (while “developing” green energy, of course).
Life is about making compromises while working towards the preferred end. It used to be considered a sign of “growing up”.
Doug Proctor says:
March 16, 2013 at 10:24 pm
What is your definition of “Green Energy”?
Immature.
After than ACO it gets rank
[…] last week’s symbolic collapse of a wind turbine in Kyoto province, here’s news of another downed bird mincer in Donegal, Ireland. From the […]