Has anyone thought that the repairs needed are an indication of either faulty materials or faulty installation? It would seem to me, a person who has worked with some large gear boxes at times, that the only way the gear box could fail so quickly is either if the metal in the gears was not up to snuff, or if the shafts driving the gears were somehow misaligned, causing undue wear on the bearings, or some such...

Hey Paul, You Seem To Know A Lot About Gears And Stuff. Why Don't You Climb Up There And Take A Look At It? I'm Sure That Would Be Much Cheaper Than Any Solution The Town Can Come Up With. I Like How The Blame Game Has Started At Town Hall Over This Eyesore. Let's Get Those 2 Idiots With The BB Guns To Shoot At The Wind Turbine Until It Falls Down.

John, I dont know Bill, but I know that a quality gear box installed properly should not fail in the time this thing has been running... I would assume that someone has gone up and seen what the alignment of the various shafts is like, and if the gears themselves have cracked, whether there was a lot of gas (porosity) in the metal or other issues with the metal of the gears such that they failed... that is all I am saying... but I would say that for the cost of repair, it is well worth hiring an expert to see if the shafts are misaligned, or if the metal is of poor quality (like much steel that comes from China for example) and thereby show why the thing failed... the cost for such an expert would be nominal, really, as compared to the cost of repair... just common sense...

While I have worked with gear boxes of even larger size, mostly they have been step down boxes... and I understand the difficulty in taking one down to look at it, but it would seem that process is inevitable in any event... but I have seen where if the flanges are not perfectly aligned, the torque and vibration that result would easily damage the box... and I have seen this often be an issue... that's all I am saying... and if this is the case, I would assume that the town would have recourse...

no insurance, no warranty, and no one actually trying to find out what went wrong with the thing? Very sad indeed...

Famous Quote; "I Didn't Do It....Nobody Saw Me Do It...You Can't Prove Anything."
...............Bart Simpson.

The EDC should recommend that the windmill stays. Since this group is as useful as the windmill they may further recommend that each of the blades be used for advertising instead of using the windmill for its true purpose. Sort of like the school at the glen. My guess is that you'd have clements, the new bar at kings grant, and a tattoo parlor (which will morph into a posh and naughty advertisement).

The town has a report done by an engineer from Seattle Washington who is an expert on gear box problems. The report was to be given to the Town Council by Sept 17 last month . The report has never been released to the public . For some reason the report is being kept from public view, The turbine officially broke down on June 15,2012 .

Four months later the largest wind turbine in the state remains broken down for some unknown reason .I believe pushing the over ride switch as many as every six to eight hours over long periods of time helped cause the break down !

The town council is engaging in their fiduciary responsibilities to sort out a failed undertaking. Clearly fact based lessons learned and if possible an economic trade off of junk it vs fix it vs sell it must be determined. Unfortunately it appears those that performed the sales task and sold the Bridge (WTG) to the town and state tax payers and rate payers now are unable to engage in adult critical thinking and perform a root cause analysis! The referenced 400K$ profit is voodoo math e.g. a counterfeit claim. Proper accounting would have made provisions for a sinking fund for the every 3 to 5 year pull down and maintenance e.g. overhaul and refurbishment - repair cycle. No budgeted funding for proper training of operational staff and or a reliable Life cycle maintenance service. Finally the accounting portrayed took advantage of the bond payback schedule having been delayed at the onset per a devised schedule. As predicted over 4 years ago the US Natural Gas abundance at a significantly lower cost enabled low cost gas turbine generated electrical power. This defeated a defective national energy policy to drive the cost of all other forms of energy up while significantly subsidizing Wind and SOLAR. This is a form of economic terrorism and a product of Marxist Socialist policies. However the cult of true believers embrace their counterfeit rational. The rigor of a transparent after action report based on fact is still necessary.

Don't waste your time J he doesn't live in portsmouth

It is Kesson and Staven giving him information PCC brownshirts to the rescue

PCC is not a favorite of mine, as they are quite biased in many respects... and while I dont know the details of any of this, it would seem to me quite radicalized to consider this a socialist agenda... seems very Tea Party-ish...

Anyway, if there is a budget for repairs, this should be used... if it has been used elsewhere, it needs to be paid back... and if we know what caused the breakdown, (I am sure there must be a stated mean time to failure, and that this should not be in the 3 year span of time... proper maintenance is being done? The machine is not being pushed beyond its specs?

Do we have any information about these things? I dont frequent town council meetings, as my work often has me out of town, but I would assume that there is some cause for this issue that can be determined through a nalysis by an appropriate expert... and if it is due to the town's failure to maintain the thing, or to train staff properly, that is one thing... if it is due to a bad installation or a failure of materials, that is an entirely other thing...

Tuesday Oct 9 th at 7 p.m. there will be a wind turbine update .The town should come forward all the information on the wind turbine fiasco.

There appears to be a plan to lease land to a private wind turbine contractor and continue with the fiasco . It's been since June 15th and there is no one taking responsibility for what happened with the turbine .

They should post the report done by the engineer from Seattle ,Washington on the town website .The question over anyone telling fibs will be answered by the report. The public deserves an education on the negative side of the purchase of this wind turbine and the "mistakes" made buying this "Trojon Horse "

It's OFFICIAL. There is very good news that I just recieved from my contact in Bristol. The wind turbine gearbox is in excellent condition. The cause of the turbine problem has been known since June but has been kept secret by an exeecutive order from the EPA. A family of nesting Spotted Owls was discovered in the turbine nacelle and the turbine was shut down to protect the birds until they were hatched and able to leave the nest in the fall. All that will be required to restart the turbine is to clean up the feathers and poop and we are good to go.

As we all know, the Spotted Owl is an endangered species and must be protected.

The wind turbine is a total failure due in part to the poor purchase and lack of research into the purchase of a commercial wind turbine .The recent resignations from the PEDC are proof of the failure. When asked for information on the purchase of the turbine -these people simply quit their positions at the EDC.

Many mistakes were made with the purchase of the three million dollar turbine. The turbine turbine lasted about three years which puts the cost of the turbine at one million dollars a year. No matter how much money was made the first or second year the bottom line is the turbine is a total failure and people need to step up to the plate and answer what "mistakes" were made buying the turbine with NO bonding and No warranty!
The town has also been consulting with several people who own and operate the same AAER 1.5 MW turbine, one of which has had the same gearbox problem. An engineer from Seattle Washington has prepared a long report. We should see that report on Oct 9 ,Tuesday at 7 p.m.
These out-of-warranty turbines around the 1.5 Megawatt range need gearbox repairs within the first five years.

Tuesday,October 9 ,2012 at 7 p.m. The Town of Portsmouth,Rhode Islands Town Administrator will finally reveal the much anticipated Portsmouth High School wind turbine report ! The report has been done by an engineer who has worked for a federal agency looking into gear box failures since 2004 . Any one in the Town of Portsmouth should have known by 2008 that the wind turbine industry was hiding gear box problems from the public !

I have re-posted my post here from another blog authored by BILL

Bill Carson is intent in keeping his various blogs At The TOP. I'm here to help. SO: BILL: What happened at last nights Portsmouth Town Meeting...?? Where is the Wind Turbine REPORT you said would be presented in many of your previous posts......??? Just wondering.