A wind turbine snapped in half early this morning in Chatham-Kent.
Officials with the Municipality of Chatham-Kent say they were notified early this morning that a wind turbine, that is part of a wind energy project just south of Chatham, broke in half.
“The turbine is located at the corner of Drake Rd. and 16 Line,” Municipal officials say.
“There were no 911 calls or injuries reported. The turbine is currently disconnected from the power grid.”
Municipal officials say Fire & Paramedic Chief Bob Crawford attended the site and confirmed Terraform Power crews have the lead and are currently on scene investigating.
“With safety being a priority, workers are currently putting up safety fencing around the broken turbine and Chatham-Kent police are also present,” Chatham-Kent officials stated.
Following the incident, Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton, once again, called for a halt to wind turbine construction across Ontario.
“17 families in Chatham-Kent cannot drink their well water and today, this from one of your local wind turbine projects,” McNaughton said in a tweet about the incident to Minister of Environment & Climate Change, Chris Ballard.
“I again call for an immediate moratorium on North Kent & Otter Creek wind projects.”
McNaughton added in a separate tweet: “Ontario’s Green Energy Act – and bad contracts – have hurt families: Hydro bills tripled, local voices were ignored & local councils lost their powers, thousands of manufacturing jobs gone and environmental & safety concerns. It has fallen apart.”
McNaughton recently sent a letter (which can be read here) to Ballard inviting him to the area for a tour of
North Kent and the impacted water well owners.
Reports say the turbine collapsed sometime overnight and no one was hurt.
The area is set to be fenced off until it can be torn down, reports say.
We’ll provide more details when they become available.
Here are some photos provided to the Sydenham Current by our colleagues at the Chatham Voice:
