Sable Island – such a ridiculous place to even think of putting wind turbines, but the Feds went ahead and did it. Canadian Press describes how the turbines never really did anything… they were dead from the get go.

“The harsh conditions and extreme isolation of Sable Island have forced Ottawa to abandon a wind project on the iconic crescent-shaped sandbar — more than 15 years after it launched the initiative. Parks Canada said wind turbines don’t meet the needs of the wind-swept Nova Scotia island, famous for the wild horses that have roamed there since the 18th century.”
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“When asked for the total cost of the project to date, Environment Canada said just under $1 million had been spent on the project as of 2006. It will cost another $150,000 to decommission the turbines, it said. The original budget for the wind project was $669,000.”
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“Parks Canada said it hopes to develop “a reduced facility footprint, more efficient operations, reduced electricity demand, and renewable power generation” on Sable. The decommissioning will happen in two phases: The battery and switch gear were removed in 2015, and the towers and turbines are scheduled to be dismantled and removed this fall, Parks Canada said.”

It’s news that they are taking the turbines down, but it isn’t news that the damn things never worked. Here’s a CBC story from 2011. Remember – components started arriving at the island to be assembled way back in 2002. By 2011 they still weren’t producing power for the island!

“Officials estimate it will cost another $660,000 to refurbish or replace what is now aging or obsolete equipment. It took years to assemble, secure and properly connect the five towers that now hold the wind turbines. In the summer of 2005, just after the turbines were hooked up and generating power, a piece of equipment called the inverter malfunctioned.”

“Environment Canada said in an email to CBC News that “during commissioning, it was discovered that a manufacturing defect —improper software — resulted in improper currents, and some transistors were damaged.” Even though the damaged equipment was replaced and the proper software installed not long after the test, the system remains offline.

“Although the wind turbines are generating electricity … other improvements are needed to create a system that effectively uses the electrical power generated by the turbines,” said Environment Canada spokesperson Mark Johnson. Environment Canada said it has completed an assessment of the entire system to determine whether any of it needs replacement.”
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It was broken. They tried to fix it and it still didn’t work. So they just let it all rot away, because – thank God! – they had diesel generators going the whole time!