WIND ENERGY FIRE! NO HARM! NO SPILL! NO SHUTDOWN! BORING!

Ever drive by one of those brand new cars parked on the shoulder of the freeway with the engine burning? Must’ve been a lemon, right? Or some kind of mistake by the new owner.

Mistakes happen. Machines fail. Once in a while something goes wrong. That’s why it's best when possible to invest in the kind of energy infrastructure where a mistake causes a fire and an isolated incident, not a mine cave-in, not a spill and an environmental horror, not a nuclear power plant shut down - or a melt down. Just a turbine out of commission (the tower standing strong), while the other turbines keep spinning away, capturing the wind that goes on blowing through.

The headlines are filled with the dreadful consequences of mistakes made with Old Energy. It is easy to overlook a machine failure that has no headline-making consequences while New Energy goes quietly on taking care of business. It is easy to underappreciate the meaning of a news story that is a little bit quaint and a little bit boring. Don't.

When FPL Energy's High Winds Energy Center notified the local fire department, the fire fighters decided to let the fire burn itself out. It took 3 hours. The other 89 turbines kept generating megawatts.

FPL Energy wind technician John Serra (left), Mike Homen and general manager Kevin Gordon. (photo by Rick Roach for the Reporter - click to enlarge)

Fire ruins turbine at windfarm; Birds Landing blazed gutted only 1 of 90
Danny Bernardini (w/Rick Roach), March 11, 2008 (Vacaville Reporter)

WHO
FPL Energy’s High Winds Energy Center (Kevin Gordon, General Manager; Van Culver, plant leader)

WHAT
A wind energy turbine at FPL Energy’s High Winds Energy Center caught fire during the night.

From FPL Energy's High Winds Energy Center brochure. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
The fire was discovered March 10 at 5:30 a.m.

WHERE
1 turbine of 90 in the 6700 block of Birds Landing Road near Rio Vista, Vacaville, CA.

click to enlarge

WHY
- Cause of the fire: As yet undetermined. A worker will climb the turbine to assess the situation when it is deemed safe.
- The fire appeared to be in the upper part of the nacelle (where the engine and controls are) and the blades.
- The tower is 200 ft tall. The blades are 120 ft.long.
- The fiberglass and balsa wood blades dropped embers as they burned.
- Estimated financial loss: $1.5 million.

click to enlarge

QUOTES
Culver, FPL: "We're still investigating the root cause…We're making sure it's secure and there is no risk."