Turbines weather hurricane well
Only six of Denmark's 5500 operating wind turbines were destroyed in a hurricane that blasted the country early last month with winds of up to 51.4 metres per second (m/s). All six machines -- two Bonus, two Wincon, one Wind-Matic and one Nordtank -- were ten to 15 years old. The rest of the country's turbines survived the storm well, reports Strange Skriver, technical consultant to the Danish association of wind turbine owners, and Peter Hjuler Jensen of state laboratory Risø. Many older machines survived winds of close to 55 m/s, which is the top speed they are designed to handle. Otherwise, newer models are designed to withstand wind speeds up to 70 m/s. Danish forests did not fare so well; millions of trees in southern Jutland and on the islands of Funen and Lolland-Falster were toppled by the winds.
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