Abandoned DAF-Indal Darrieus Turbine on the Iles-de-la-Madeleine
Someone sent me a link to a YouTube video titled Abandoned Vertical Axis Windmill In The Magdalen Islands.
The 4-minute video was filmed in mid 2016 and shows a DAF-Indal Darrieus turbine standing idle on Iles-de-la-Madeleine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The video films some of the debris on the site and the interior of the ground-mounted drive train.
Keen observers will note what looks like an old Carter 25 (10-meter diameter) downwind machine in the background later in the video. It too isn't operating.
Both machines were probably abandoned by Hydro Quebec, the provincial utility, more than two decades ago--if not longer.
The Darrieus turbine is a replacement for its infamous predecessor which proved that Darrieus turbines can be self-starting. The previous unit destroyed itself when the mechanical brake was removed for servicing and the air brakes failed to protect the turbine from self-destruction. See my books for more detail.
I was on Iles-de-la-Madeleine in October 2005 for a conference where I was a featured guest. When our plane flew out we flew right over the turbine and I was shocked to see that it was still there. I'd thought it had been removed decades before. If I'd only known I'd taken a taxi out there and gotten some photos for my archives. I am still kicking myself for that lost opportunity.
That machine, and the Carter nearby, both should be in a museum somewhere. They shouldn't be standing there derelict on the island's landscape as nothing more than a metal target for any Quebecois with a gun.
Shame on Hydro Quebec.
Paul Gipe is the author of Wind Energy for the Rest of Us: A Comprehensive Guide to Wind Power and How to Use It. More of his articles can be found on his web site at www.wind-works.org.
We Plan to be Here
6yI have to wonder where the Madelinots are at on this. PEI has done community level renewable to great effect. Also I forgot to plug Les Iles for being such a great tourist destination, food, fun, wind surfing, boating, cycling, culture, beauty and more!
Vice President - Business Development and Marketing at DGSC
6ySad 2 c the abandonment of classic wind technology. Les Îles’ Power plant, one of the few remaining in North America still burning #6 Heavy Fuel Oil, is nearing end of life. 2018 will be an important decisionmaking year for H-Q re.: Les Îles.
We Plan to be Here
6yPaul I stopped at this turbine on a bike tour of Les Iles in ~ summer 1994. Such wind there that all gardens have a 1 m poly wind break around them. Was lucky enough to meet the landowner who told me they were Hydro Quebec experiments abruptly ended. He was displeased and disparaging with HQ who were not treating les Madelinots with respect, instead saying they where going to run an undersea transmission line that far, what 250 km, for a small population.Never done and foolish. A great chance for a wind energy test bed missed and not just by HQ. On an upbeat note, the landowner's son entered the wind energy business, at that time in the Eastern Townships. Vive le Vent! If you say they should be in a Museum, I must agree.