“uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç

Although the standards of your magazine are usually pretty high, it annoys me that when reporting on the dealings between EDON and Kenetech (“uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç, January 1997) some sources of information were ignored. Despite Kenetech's problems, the Groningen office has been an ongoing entity in trying to assist co-owner KW Eemsmond cv (mainly owned by EDON). It is absolutely normal that owners of goods supplied by a (soon to be) defunct company enter a list of claims to preserve as much of their rights (warranties in this case) as possible. The bankruptcy court will eventually decide how the remaining assets will be distributed and without a claim you get nothing. The failure of the two blades are not the catalyst to such a court claim, but obviously part of it.

You have not stopped mentioning the failure of the blades. I agree that such failure is not permissible, but there have been other examples. Two blades from a well known German manufacturer separated from their turbines in the Netherlands in the same time period and it is also known that a prominent Danish manufacturer exchanged all its blades on a certain type of machine and another German manufacturer encountered many blade problems. However, the focus is always on the Kenetech failures. Furthermore, the blades were not of European manufacture, as you have reported sources as saying, but were manufactured by a former Kenetech daughter company in the US: TPI. The blade issue is indeed under investigation by the Dutch national laboratory and a solution is in the making.

Your magazine, among others, continuously focuses on the technical problems with Kenetech turbines. Although there are other bugs to be worked out, rendered more complicated since Kenetech nearly closed its doors, the main problem is clearly the blade issue. Despite all of its troubles, such as blade failures, pending bankruptcy but also lesser than normal winds in 1996, Windpark Eemsmond managed to produce a net of 51,481,484 kWh in 1996. Although short of the forecast, the crippled Windpark fairs pretty well in comparison with others in the Netherlands.