...Get down tower now Horrible weather headed your way

摘要

You might think Mother Nature does not much like wind turbines and their maintenance crews. Consider that strong winds, essential to power production, present a danger to those working at height. Ice is hazardous on blades because it adds weight that strains them and it ruins a turbine's power output. Lightning, however, is the biggest weather threat to wind turbine O&M crews. Turbines are usually the tallest structures in the area, so they are prone to strikes. "Our main weather concern is lightning," says Suzlon monitoring center manager Richard Duesing. The company monitors some 2,500 of its turbines around the U.S. "We don't want anyone in a tower when we see lightning approaching the area."