22 of 52 turbines back online after tower collapse
The owner of a wind farm in south Chatham-Kent where a turbine tower toppled last month says part of the facility is now back online.
“After a full review by independent, third-party professionals, as well as our own engineering team, 22 turbines at the facility have been returned to service to date,” said statement from TerraForm Power, owner of the Raleigh Wind Power facility.
“We continue to make progress in our full site inspection, which we expect to complete in the coming weeks,” concluded the statement.
No information was provided regarding if it has been determined why the turbine tower collapsed in the early morning of Jan. 19.
The 52-turbine facility went off-line as a precaution after the turbine tower collapsed.
There were no injuries in the incident and Chatham-Kent police previously said foul play was not suspected in the incident.
The company told Postmedia News in late January that it expected to have a portion of the wind farm return to regular operations in two weeks.
The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change previously said it is “taking this incident very seriously.”
“We are actively monitoring the situation and will ensure that the company determines the cause of the incident,” the ministry added.
The ministry has also requested a report from the company about the cause of collapse when their assessment is complete.
There has been no indication about whether the report will be made public.
South Kent Coun. Karen Herman, who went to the site of the collapse on the day it happened, indicated while talking to local media on Jan. 19 that answers should be provided.
“We need to find out what happened,” she said.
“I can’t imagine this being a normal occurrence.”
We are actively monitoring the situation and will ensure that the company determines the cause of the incident.