Wind farms produce “green” energy by using nature’s natural resources to produce what would otherwise be caused by a high form of pollution in a coal fired power source.  Peak Claims’  inland marine cargo surveyor, Phillip Crimaldi, has a range of experience in dealing with green energy insurance claims and inland marine damage surveys.  Here is Mr. Crimaldi’s take on this loss:

Way up in north central Colorado near the Town of Grover, close to where the southern Wyoming and Nebraska state lines meet and near the Pawnee National Grassland, there is a growing wind farm known as The Northern Colorado Wind Facility.  A wind farm is a large group of wind mills that produce electricity.

This particular wind farm has consistent winds of 20+mph throughout the day with frequent gusts up to around 40+mph.  Clearly an easy choice for X-Cel energy to partner up with NextEra for a 152-Megawatt wind farm costing nearly $300 million and producing enough electricity to light up 38,000 homes.

I’m not so sure about is how much of that $300 million went to insurance premiums, but based on this file it’s a safe bet to have been a high figure as these units are worth quite a bit of money.  The wind speed and risk of accidents is pretty high.  When I attended this survey there were warning signs about high winds at the entry and it was so windy that my truck door was nearly torn off and at least 3 documents went flying so far, so fast, that it was impossible to get them.  I only carry documents in digital form now.

Mitsubishi Power of Tokyo, Japan manufactured the nacelles for most of this farm and this one was no exception.   This unit had traveled nearly half way around the world from the Port of Tokyo to the Port of San Diego and made it all but two miles from the drop site.

For this file we only acted as cargo surveyors and not in any capacity for the tractor- trailer outfit or ground carrier insurance.  The primary reason for our involvement was to assess the extent of the damages to the freight, determine the cause and origin of those damages,  and address any potential right to subrogation under the terms of this inland marine floater.  We interviewed and obtained statements from the driver of the truck and workers who arrived at the scene.  Police reports and the bill of lading indicated the drop site was only two miles straight down the road so it became evident that minimal time passed between the accident and arrival of workers and Colorado State Patrol.

The driver of this cargo stated that another truck was approaching from the opposite direction and his story matched those of workers and the other truck driver.   When you’re out this far in the country the roads are dirt and become narrow; barely one and a half lanes with a width of about 15′.  The opposing truck was a 53′ van and as the smaller load, he should have yielded but failed to do so.  As a result, this inland marine cargo hauler pulled over on the berm and the driver supposedly hadn’t realized that his load dipped into the culvert, until it was too late.  The driver attempted to pull out of the culvert which is when the weight of the cargo load became excess for the 5th wheel hitch, shown here:

Since the load originated at the Port of San Diego we can trust that it was well secured because of the several hundred miles elapsed between the destination and origin cities.  Additionally it was noted in photos that the load itself did not break free from the trailer but rather the trailer hitch broke away from the truck  (shown right),  thus resulting in damages to this inland cargo risk. The unit was moved to the drop site approximately a day later as shown here:

Crane picking up nacelle for transfer

We consulted with engineers from the installing mechanical contractor and the manufacturer’s engineer.  The installing mechanical contractor’s engineer couldn’t make any determination about the unit specifically, except that it was (obviously) not fit for installation and the Mitsubishi’s engineer was overseas for the initial review (via photos and contact).  At this point there’s obviously a minimal question as to the likelihood of coverage although that is not for us to decide and a job for the Underwriters.  The damages were clearly so excessive that salvage was our only interest, but ultimately one for Mitsubishi to decide.  The decisions were left with our third party agent as to the disposition of salvage because a substantial amount of time passed before a qualified engineer could make a physical survey, and because parts would have to be removed completely and disassembled to make that determination.

Details about the opposing truck drivers insurance carrier, USDOT records and other pertinent information was obtained and forwarded in our report so that a subrogation investigation might address further recovery potential.  Peak Claims also has the ability to review these conditions ,however the Underwriters didn’t anticipate much of a recovery since their own driver was ultimately at fault and no comparative negligence could be derived from the evidence gathered on the scene.  The opposing truck didn’t come within 300 yards of this load which wouldn’t have made for a great comparative negligence case.  Overall our assistance in the matter was helpful because we identified all of the black and white evidence to that a determination for coverage could be made.

Phillip Crimaldi is the Director of Operations and inland marine cargo surveyor for Peak Claims in Colorado and the Mountain Time Zone.  Phillip has been an active cargo surveyor since 2002 and authors articles on the web about insurance claim surveys, adjusting and investigation.