Opinion ID: 3193502
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Danger of blade throws

Text: {¶ 62} The certificate as approved by the board permits turbines to be built within 919 feet from nonparticipating property owners’ homes and 541 feet from their property lines. When these setbacks were approved, the board relied on the minimum-setback calculation then set forth in R.C. 4906.20, which the board had 25 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO adopted as a rule under its rulemaking authority. Former R.C. 4906.20(B)(2), 2008 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 562; Ohio Adm.Code 4906-17-08(C)(1)(c)(i) and (ii). {¶ 63} The minimum-setback standard was the same standard the board used when the “Timber Road” certificate was granted. After construction of the Timber Road facility, a Vestas V100 turbine at that facility malfunctioned. The blade-failure incident escalated when the operator, located in the state of Oregon, remotely restarted the wind turbine after the initial blade failure had caused the turbine to automatically shut down, which caused debris to be thrown across the landscape. According to an expert who testified before the board, operator error— like remotely restarting a damaged turbine—is the leading cause of wind-turbine failure even where computerized protection systems are in place. {¶ 64} The board found credible the evidence that the blade failure at Timber Road caused the turbine to throw a piece of its blade weighing around six and one-half pounds a distance of 764 feet. After analyzing the circumstances of that incident, a safety expert testified that in his opinion, the six-and-one-half-pound piece of blade that was thrown 764 feet had the same force at impact as a 40-pound block of concrete falling from an eight-story building. {¶ 65} After the blade throw incident but while the application for this certificate was pending, Champaign Wind withdrew the Vestas V100 turbine from consideration for this project. Despite that withdrawal, the experts for Champaign Wind and the parties opposing the certificate agreed that the characteristics of the Vestas V100 turbine that threw the blade were not unique to that turbine.