We have been monitoring the site closely today. This appears to be an unusually violent storm - the site has powered through all the other 'named' storms this winter.
Output dropped a bit this morning; the Kirk Hill turbines reach maximum power at about 14 metres per second or 30mph, rotating at about 17rpm. However output starts to drop slightly as the blades pitch to protect the turbines in very high winds, and this is starting to happen with some of the turbines today, which is why output has reduced from max power. They only cut out when winds average 34 metres per second (75mph) over a 10-minute period - they can withstand gusts more intense than this whilst still operating. The highest gust recorded this morning was 100mph.
3pm - All the turbines are currently at 0MW output; they have automatically gone to this output to protect themselves due to vibrations resulting from the intensity of some of the gusts. Although average wind speeds have been below the threshold above which they would turn off, the gusts in this particular storm have been especially violent. The safety systems in the turbine mean that a few instances of the vibration warning can be remotely reset, but after this a manual reset is required at the turbine after a brief inspection. The RES and Enercon control rooms are liaising to determine if this is necessary, but a visit may need to wait until after winds have dropped to a safe level for a team to attend. The Enercon teams will also likely have a number of sites to attend to in the area.
Occasionally you may see a negative power output on your dashboards, this negative output is displayed when the site is not generating and the turbines and substation are instead having to import small volumes of power for control systems, heating etc.
As a few members have asked, there's been no Load Management Scheme (LMS) curtailment of the site today.