Currently there is a power cut in some parts of Lochgelly, with the power outage starting at around just slightly after 7pm and taking out power to the top of the town.
Some streets have been restored, but Watters Crescent and some parts of South Street are still without power, and possibly other locations in Lochgelly.
Just before the power went out, we received a phone call from a resident to notify us that one of the turbines at Little Raith was spinning at a very fast speed, much faster than the rest. At that point the power was cut to the top of Lochgelly, and then the resident reported hearing a loud high pitched screeching sound.
There’s a sound really loud at the moment. It sounds like metal screeching against metal and it is very loud. I have never heard the sound before in the town.
One of our volunteers went up to the South Street area and verified the sound but it was unclear where the exact source of the sound was coming from, but it was very loud.
One of the turbines was spinning very fast but was rapidly slowing down, which coincided with the noise being generated, even though the exact source of the sound was hard to determine.
The volunteer then walked to the top of the Farm road and noticed there was an unmarked utility van at the electrical junction point at Watters Crescent, meanwhile the turbine that was spinning faster than the rest had been brought back down to the same speed as the rest.
What caused the power surge, and was there a problem with one of the turbines? It may have been coincidence or it may be connected, we do not know and are merely speculating, we will make some inquiries and provide an update if we can.
Jock Miller
February 5, 2013 at 8:32 pm
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allan davie
December 5, 2013 at 9:42 pm
glad to see you are out and about
Marc Mckenna
February 5, 2013 at 8:32 pm
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Cheryl Michie
February 5, 2013 at 8:32 pm
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allan davie
December 5, 2013 at 9:43 pm
is the baby out watching to miss you
Mary Young
February 5, 2013 at 9:07 pm
Strange!
Mary Ellen McGovern
February 5, 2013 at 9:14 pm
Lomond Homes were also without power.. Look forward to your update, thanks
Mary Ellen McGovern
February 5, 2013 at 9:17 pm
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Elaine Swan
February 5, 2013 at 9:17 pm
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Lesley Miller
February 5, 2013 at 9:17 pm
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Louise Imrie
February 5, 2013 at 9:23 pm
Ours was off for an hour and a half (Paul Street), but its very strange my neighbour 2 doors away had power
Gary Russell
February 5, 2013 at 10:00 pm
This is priceless. How can one of the turbines be running much faster than the others. It’s the wind that makes them turn. Was the wind stronger at that one turbine. You guys crack me up like :-/
Lochgelly
February 5, 2013 at 10:42 pm
Wind Turbines draw power from the National Grid for a variety of purposes such as starting up and shutting down wind turbines, heating the blades, etc. Wind Turbines do not solely rely on wind to operate, and since the turbine was operating at a faster speed than the rest, suggests that there was some kind of mechanical fault with the turbine.
Colin Johnston
February 6, 2013 at 9:55 am
Exactly what type of wind turbines are they so that we can read up on how they operate ?
Lochgelly
February 7, 2013 at 6:40 pm
The turbines are by General Electric. We have got the exact spec of them somewhere on one of the computers. I’ll get the file raked out and post it online.
Wee Stooshie
February 6, 2013 at 8:13 am
Gary if you are going to continue supporting the turbines at least learn how they work. At the moment you look ignorant unless spreading ignorance is your specialty.
Louise Imrie
February 5, 2013 at 10:03 pm
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John Fash
February 5, 2013 at 10:29 pm
We were without electricity for an hour & a half. The noise was weird, really loud, high-pitched squeal, a bit eerie listening to it in the dark!
Taylor Michelle
February 5, 2013 at 10:30 pm
lochgelly, high street was out for 30 odd minutes
Christina Scally
February 5, 2013 at 11:13 pm
we had a couple of flickers in navitie park in ballingry but no actual power cut. werent we the lucky ones lol
Taylor Michelle
February 5, 2013 at 11:17 pm
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Neil Fraser
February 6, 2013 at 5:16 am
Name Removed pee’d himsel at the cross last wk, is that the turbines fault an aw?
Edited by Admin
Lochgelly
February 6, 2013 at 8:34 am
Neil we have a policy that users should not name people in the way you have done, please refrain or we will have to remove you from the site.
windymiller
February 7, 2013 at 8:59 pm
Hi Guys,
I can confirm it was nothing to do with any turbines at Little Raith. Turbines are connected onto the 33kv network and if any surges or problems did happen the protection would kick in well before it sent streets into darkness!
Mike
Lochgelly
February 7, 2013 at 9:21 pm
Thank you for the update Mike. Is there any chance you can provide an update of what happened to one of the turbines. We noticed that the day after the turbine was not in operation for most of the day, and due to the excessive speed the night before, followed by the sound, we are assuming that was caused by the braking system kicking in to make sure the turbine was spinning at a safe speed.
windymiller
February 8, 2013 at 8:09 am
Hi,
There was no excessive speed on the turbine. They are loaded with sensors, RPM, Temp, Vibration and Noise.
The turbines will spin at different speeds as the wind is not a constant.
Turbine was off as we were doing maintenance, we can not work inside when they are running.
Cheers
Mike
Lochgelly
February 8, 2013 at 10:07 am
Are you in a position to share that data, as we have had a few eye witness reports from the South Street area that the turbine was spinning faster than all the rest which coincided with the noise.
windymiller
February 8, 2013 at 12:30 pm
The turbines do not all spin at the same speed as the wind varies over the site. It may well be that one was faster than the other. There was no mechanical fault and no noise detected from any turbines.
The turbines do not have a braking system that makes any noise, to stop the turbine the blades are pitched out to 90 degrees which creates a stall effect. The blade angle is constantly changing with the wind speed to keep the generator at a set RPM.
If there were any high pitch sreetches from the turbines I would be very concerned. Id have to say its more likely to be from mossmorran.
Cheers
Lochgelly
February 8, 2013 at 1:11 pm
Thanks for taking the time to reply and provide the extra info, much appreciated. The noise was quite loud, but it was hard to determine the exact source.
windymiller
February 8, 2013 at 1:18 pm
Any time,
I have sent an email to both Terry and James which has all my contact details. Feel free to drop me a mail or give me a call/text if you have any concerns or questions.
Cheers
Mike
Lochgelly
February 8, 2013 at 1:43 pm
Thank you very much, I’ll get them both to check their emails and get in touch. Thanks again.