Turbine Component Damage from Massive Storm

Saturday's storm damage
The picture looks innocuous enough before the storm's onslaught. It may not sound like much, but an inch of rain in 20 minutes--in the North Okanagan--is unusual indeed. One could feel it in the air...and at around 2 p.m. Saturday, July 25th, the storm hit.

Plastic patio chairs and patio umbrellas went flying across No.1 Teebox. Lightning pierced the suddenly-formed clouds, where only moments before it had been a clear and hot day. Thunder was deafening and felt as though it came from the attic.

Four golfers--stranded on #2 green--braved incredibly strong winds for a few minutes and then wisely chose to return to the clubhouse to wait out the storm.

I panicked when I saw the wind turbine blades spinning as though a plane were taking off on the runway...it was spinning at 220 RPM.
The wind turbine's program was turning it out of the wind.
But on a hunch, afraid of damage to components, I activated the "Brakes" lever.

And then the hail hit.

We watched from the clubhouse as hail covered the putting green beside the clubhouse, melting only after a full five minutes in the 30C temperatures. It was as though ice cubes had fallen.

Rainwater--driven by wind--entered the clubhouse around the kitchen door and quickly left an inch of water in the kitchen area. The shop-vac was immediately employed to remove the encroaching water.

...lightning and thunder continued for the next 10 hours.

And wind turbine damage did occur.

Hail knocked out the sensor's delicate bearing on the wind turbine.
The turbine can still send electricity to the grid, but its direction must be on "hand" control until the part is replaced. On "Automatic", it would not now turn into a new wind direction, and lose considerable production.

But on the manual setting, there's a risk of the blades freewheeling if the "hand" setting is too straight into a strong wind...it'll be a case of raw nerves until the part arrives sometime next week.

"That storm scared the fur off me," confirmed Kia.

U P D A T E : POSTED August 17/09
DAMAGE SUSTAINED IN THE STORM WAS LIMITED TO "DOGVANE ERROR" WARNING LIGHT ON THE CONTROLLER, NOT A SENSOR BEARING!

Dogvane damage?" asks Kia, "I wasn't anywhere near it!"