I noticed a short article on Page B2 of the June 10, 2008 issue of the Wall Street Journal titled Edison Unit Cancels Suzlon Order. Something tells me that you will not hear Amory Lovins or Joseph Romm mentioning the technical issue discussed in the article. A quick Google search leads me to believe that this story is not being told in many US based media outlets; the only one I could find in addition to the Wall Street Journal was Forbes.
Here is the scoop. In recent months, Suzlon, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing wind turbine manufacturers, has had some real trouble producing quality blades for its most advanced turbines. The company has recalled at least 1,251 blades because their design is the same as 45 blades that have cracked under load. Edison, one of Suzlon’s largest customers, has exercised an option included in the 300-turbine contract that it signed last year to cancel the rest of the order while it waits for Suzlon to figure out why its blades are cracking. Edison owns some of the turbines with the cracked blades.
So far, the root cause has not been discovered, but Suzlon has already spent $30 million in blade repairs. Anyone care to bet on where a nuclear issue with similar costs and impacts would be published?
