Hobart Mercury
4 August 2011, Page: 9
FOUR replacement wind turbines may be fastened on to the roof of Hobart's Marine Board building in less than two weeks. The Chinese-built turbines will look similar to those that failed spectacularly in August last year, about a month after they were installed. But project manager Keith Drew, acting for the building's owner Robert Rockefeller, said the turbines' braking systems had been extensively redesigned.
Mr Drew said the electro-mechanical brakes would allow the turbines to turn only when wind conditions were right. "By default the brakes will now be on unless all safety systems are operating properly", he said. Installation contractor I Want Energy yesterday began preparatory roof work. The pedestrian footpath on the eastern side of Mawson Place will be closed next week as the all-new vertical-axis turbines are assembled.
Weather permitting, the turbines will be lifted on to the building on August 14, but Mr Drew said it was not clear how long it would take before they were fully operational. "This new system of check and triple check, along with the redesigned control systems of the wind turbines, means the installation is now as safe as we can possibly make it, but we will only fully recommission the turbines once we are confident they operate as they are supposed to", he said.
Hobart City Council aldermen Ron Christie, Peter Sexton and Marti Zucco said they weren't convinced the new turbines would be safe. They said similar assurances had been given for the previous failed set of turbines. On August 11 last year nearby roads were closed when those turbines spun out of control in 50kmh winds, causing blades to collapse inwards after the brakes failed.
"There could have been a fatality", Aid Sexton said. "How it was that Workplace Standards Tasmania approved it in the first place, that's a very big and important question". He said turbines should not be allowed in cities until there was a certified Australian standard for their installation.
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