Patent ID: 8277167

Claim:
A wind turbine operating apparatus comprising: a wind turbine having a nacelle supported for swivel movement in a horizontal plane, a rotor having a plurality of blades to be rotated by a wind force, and a generator contained in the nacelle and being connected to the rotor, the rotor being rotatable by the wind force acting on the blades; a rotation driving mechanism having a yaw motor for swiveling the wind turbine by rotation of the yaw motor; a motor brake for braking rotation of the yaw motor; a yaw brake for braking the swivel movement of the wind turbine; an abnormality signal detection means for detecting one of a signal of an abnormality in the generator or a signal of an abnormality responding to an undue load of wind to the blades; a rotation controlling means for controlling the rotation driving mechanism so as to swivel the wind turbine until the rotor is in a downwind position based on the signal detected by the abnormality signal detection means, the wind turbine being allowed to naturally follow a wind direction in the downwind position; and a motor brake controller which controls the motor brake to brake the rotation of the yaw motor when the wind turbine is allowed to naturally follow the wind direction in the downwind position.