At Vermont’s Georgia Mountain wind farm, four turbines were taken offline for about a week so maintenance crews could perform the necessary repairs, however the machines should be whirling again in a few days, the Burlington Free Press reports.
According to the news source, the wind turbines won’t restart until engineers perform all safety checks, however early investigations show it likely won’t be long. Maintenance engineers say a faulty aspect of the machine’s electrical system caused the malfunction, which prompted the turbines to shut themselves down.
“It’s a problem that’s similar to a breaker tripping,” Staskus said, adding that the facility is still in its “break-in period,” and that making repairs within the warranty period were a planned part of the installation.
Dotty Schnure, spokeswoman for utility Green Mountain Power, added that the malfunction wasn’t that much of a surprise to here.
“It’s not unusual in the first six months to a year for any generating plant to have the bugs worked out,” she said.
The 10 megawatt wind farm can churn out 1 million kilowatt-hours of power every week, and is owned by a group of business owners from all over Vermont, according to Georgia Mountain Community Wind.
Thorough product testing can ensure facilities and structures operate as they are intended to with minimal costly downtime.