"NextEra Energy Resources plans to build 57 new wind turbines across part of Oklahoma's Panhandle as part of a project that will replace one owned by Olympia Renewable Platform LLC that was sanctioned by regulators for safety violations.
Olympia wasn't the original owner of the wind farm, having acquired the farm from its developer, DeWind (a subsidiary of South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering), a California-based company that later fell into bankruptcy and closed.
Because the turbines were built using equipment designed and built by the bankrupt developer, Olympia claimed to experience difficulties keeping the wind farm in good working order because its only options were to strip parts from other turbines or make replacement parts from scratch.
The issue was so bad in 2020, a commission representative who visited the farm reported hearing cracking sounds as large, broken turbine blades on towers blew first one direction and then another, including above open access roads that area residents use every day. The fear was that blades could have potentially dropped from towers and could have been carried as far as 50 feet away before hitting the ground when winds were blowing hard."
Bob Meinetz
Top Contributor
Oklahoma wind farm sanctioned for safety violations is sold
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