What Happened To The Fairhaven Wind Turbines During Hurricane Sandy?

Why was one of Fairhaven turbines not spinning during the hurricane? Talk about a chance to make a ton of electricity! It stopped spinning due to inconsistent electrical current, according to Fairhaven Wind. That turbine remained offline throughout Hurricane Sandy's Monday assault on the region, and FHN wind estimated it would not be running again until this afternoon.

Basically what happened is the same thing that happens in your house when the lights dim a little bit but don't go out.The grid current is not regulated, so the turbine shuts down.

Fairhaven's south and north turbines are on two different circuits, so if one goes out it does not affect the other.

The south turbine was fully functioning during the hurricane and only shut down periodically when wind speeds surpassed 55 mph.

The southern one has been producing power almost all day.

The turbines are designed to automatically shut down once wind speeds reach 55 mph. They remain off until wind speeds are consistently below 45 mph.

The peak gust at the hurricane barrier was 62 mph and occurred about 4 p.m. According to officials

It's been interesting to see when it starts and stops. Fairhaven Wind can monitor the turbines from a cell phone and laptop. As of 7 p.m. Monday, winds had reached close to 70 mph at the turbine's hub-height.

Three safeguards are in place to ensure turbines do not cause power surges, which can cause blackouts.

Pieces of equipment within the turbine,our operating system and within NStar's operating system that can shut if off if it senses any irregularities. It happens within microseconds. It's impossible for the turbines to shut down power on the grid, but power on the grid can shut down a turbine.