Exhibition Place Wind Turbine Stands Still

Ocotber 26, 2017

The wind turbine that symbolized Ontario’s push for green energy is at a standstill and won’t be generating electricity until next month at the earliest CBC has announced.

The  turbine located at Exhibition Place was damaged in a storm in March, and it hasn’t worked since. 

The rainstorm caused water damage to the turbine’s ring generator, said Tori Gass, media relations specialist for Toronto Hydro. The turbine is a joint venture of Toronto Hydro Energy Services Inc. and the WindShare Co-operative. 

“There were also high winds in this rainstorm … and that’s what allowed the rain to get into the generator area,” Gass said Wednesday in an interview with CBC Toronto. “This is the first time it happened in the life of [the turbine], it’s not a common occurrence.” 

It took until August to find a specialist firm that could do the necessary repair, which cost about $100,000, said Gass.  Toronto Hydro then decided to perform other upgrades, at a cost of $25,000, that are be completed in November 

This is just the latest in a series of maintenance troubles for the turbine since it began operating in 2003. 

Its original backers promoted it as a showcase for the benefits of wind energy, billing it as “the most visible wind turbine in Canada” with its location along the shore of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown.

The turbine was sometimes used as a photo backdrop by former premier Dalton McGuinty and other members of his government, until a backlash over wind farms in rural Ontario contributed to the Liberals losing several seats in the 2011 election. 

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/wind-turbine-electricity-power-cne-toronto-hydro-1.4349292