A spokesman for Pattern Energy said the portion of a wind turbine found in a farmer’s field last April wouldn’t pose any threat of injury due to its lightweight construction.
Matt Dallas said the item is a strip called a dino tail that is affixed to the surface of a turbine blade. Dallas said once it detached from the surface of the blade, “it would float to the ground, not posing any harm.”
David Cofell found the 18-inch-long item when he was planting clover last April on his property in the former Harwich Township. He turned it over to a South Kent Wind representative after taking photos of it and the turbine from which it came.
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Dallas said the incident is the only one reported among the 124 turbines in the project, the largest of its kind in Ontario. Pattern Energy and Samsung jointly own the project.
“This was an isolated incident,” he said. “We monitor our turbines on an ongoing basis and this hasn’t happened elsewhere.”
Dallas said the dino tails weigh less than a pound and are added to the turbine blades to reduce noise and increase efficiency.
Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope said he doesn’t believe it’s a serious issue.
“There was a manufacturing error or a defect. We have manufacturing defects all over the world,” he said recently. “I know Samsung and Pattern will do their due diligence to make sure the community is safe. Now, they have to make sure it doesn’t recur.”
Hope believes wind turbines are safe devices and that local MPP Rick Nicholls is using turbine companies as a convenient political target. Nicholls, MPP for Chatham-Kent Essex, called the piece of turbine Cofell found “flying shrapnel” during a recent Question Period at Queen’s Park.
“When are we going to stop beating a dead horse?” he asked. “We have had one incident in the number of years we have had turbines here. They (wind turbines) are part of our landscape. It’s about doing what’s right. It’s about working with the industries and creating jobs.”
He pointed to the recent Health Canada study that said there was no link to turbine noise to ill health effects.
Chatham-Kent MPP Rick Nicholls said he isn’t fully convinced by the company’s assurances noting that Cofell believed the piece he found could cause injury.
Cofell said he found the blade chunk some 200 feet inside his property and the turbine with the section missing is situated about 200 feet from his property line.
In an interview with The Voice, Nicholls said, “we need to know just how widespread this problem is,” he said. “We have scores of turbines along the (Highway) 401 and this kind of flying shrapnel could result in a fatality. The government’s first responsibility is to the citizens of Ontario, not the wind companies or whatever agreements they may have made with private individuals.”
