By Rafe Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Guardian
October 7, 2022
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — Wind turbines across the Island kept their structural integrity after post-tropical storm Fiona slammed the province almost two weeks ago, but power remains off and some blades appear damaged.
In Summerside, it appeared from initial inspection there was little damage to the four turbines. However, they were turned off for safety reasons.
“We need to do a better inspection with binoculars and drones on the blades to make sure there is no cracking or splitting,” said Greg Gaudet, director of municipal services for the City of Summerside told SaltWire Network on Sept. 28.
Power at the turbines was off for several days following the storm but was restored as of Thursday, Sept. 29.
Further inspections are being carried out this week to ensure there is no other damage that may have not been spotted.
“It’s hard to tell when you’re on the ground, you got to get up there and get close,” Gaudet said. “We have to do a full assessment before we can get the blades going again.”
The P.E.I. Energy Corporation (PEIEC) paused all its wind turbines late in the evening, Sept. 23, before the storm made landfall over Nova Scotia, it wrote in a statement to SaltWire Network on Oct. 5.
Early indications from the ground showed turbines across the province made it through the storm with minimal damage. The PEIEC-owned wind turbines were visually inspected shortly after the storm ended and no significant issues were noted.
Trees did fall, however, damaging the access roads and collector lines at the Hermanville wind form and the station in Norway, P.E.I.
East Point and Hermanville wind farms are not currently running due to the surrounding damage
“There are trees down on both the collector lines at Hermanville and the transmission line in Eastern P.E.I. that are impacting return to service,” the statement read. “A more thorough inspection of the wind turbines at East Point and Hermanville will be completed before putting them back in run.”
At North Cape, 12 of 16 turbines are now running while the others are awaiting minor parts, such as wind vanes and anemometer cups lost during the storm. The Aeolus turbine in Norway is also running.
That said, the turbines would be providing little energy to the provinces’ grid, as the winds have been relatively low this week.
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It’s unclear as to when power will be restored at several of these farms as of Oct. 5.
