This article is more than 1 year old

UFO ruled out of wind farm prang

Mechanical failure did for Lincolnshire turbine

An examination of the turbine at Conisholme wind farm in Lincolnshire which last month shed one of its blades has disappointingly revealed no extraterrestrial involvement in the incident.

According to the Telegraph, turbine manufacturer Enercon's interim report says bolts holding the blade to the hub failed, and it's now "carrying out further tests to establish what caused the bolts to come loose, focusing on the blade and hub components to which they were attached".

Dale Vince, co-founder of site operator Ecotricity, elaborated: "The bolt failure was the effect not the cause of the problem. They have ruled out bolt fatigue and design problems, and we know that they were properly put on."

This will come as a terrible blow to ufologists, who were pretty well convinced ET was to blame or, failing that, a superultrasecret stealth drone project. Vince said: "To be honest I'm not surprised. But there was part of me that did hope it was a UFO as it was a lovely story.

"My favourite theory was that some alien race was trying to steal our turbine technology. They crossed galaxies to get here and when they arrive all they want is our wind technology. Wind power may be the holy grail of energy on Earth but not for stellar space travel."

The final report into the failure is expected in a few weeks. ®

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