PEIAfter years of experiencing repeated damage, faulty parts and manufacturing problems, the P.E.I. government’s wind farm in Hermanville is expected to be up and running again soon. After a few miserable years at the wind farm, P.E.I. Energy Corporation hopes it has finally turned a cornerBrittany Spencer · CBC News · Posted: Oct 17, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours agoRecent years haven’t been kind to the Hermanville wind farm, with faulty parts taking down one turbine and manufacturing problems damaging others. But now its nine turbines will be fully back in service soon, and engineers with the P.E.I. Energy Corporation say the biggest problems may be behind them. (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)After years of experiencing repeated damage, faulty parts and manufacturing problems, the wind farm in Hermanville is expected to be fully up and running again soon. Blair Arsenault, operations engineer for the P.E.I. Energy Corporation, said all nine turbines will be back in service soon and the biggest problems for the wind farm may now be in the past. “We’re ready for any event in the future,” he said. “The turbines are just working a lot better than they did three years ago.”Recent years haven’t been kind to the Hermanville wind farm, with faulty parts putting one turbine out of service and manufacturing problems damaging others. Last December, a storm took down a large part of a blade on Turbine 3, forcing the wind farm to operate at a reduced capacity. Before that, in 2023, two blades were torn off Turbine 9 in a storm, causing such bad damage to the turbine that the province decided to demolish T9 in an explosive fashion in mid-June of last year. But now, Arsenault said the corporation has six backup turbine blades that are stored on-site, meaning engineers could fix a damaged turbine blade in just weeks, rather than several months.Arsenault says there are now six backup turbine blades on-site at the Hermanville wind farm, which will allow engineers to repair any blades that get damaged in the future in a matter of weeks, rather than several months. (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)“We recognized that there’s a risk of running your operation without spare components,” he said. “These blades here took about a year and a half to get, so it’s really good to have spare components like this here on site, so if something does happen in the future we can get it repaired as quickly as possible.” He said now that the backup blades have arrived, the inventory should be enough to manage any future repairs for the next 10 to 15 years. ‘It’s a good place to be compared to where it was three years ago’On a good year, the wind farm turns over $3 million in profit, but not every year has been a good one, Arsenault said. The Hermanville wind farm ran at a loss for the last three fiscal years, with only a handful of turbines running because of damage and the need for repairs. The wind farm began operation in 2014, built at a taxpayer cost of $60 million. Electricity generation had fallen to 10 per cent of design capacity by July 2023, with only four of 10 turbines operational and some of those running at reduced capacity because officials were concerned about damage.’It has been a rough couple Decembers, but we’re hopeful for the future,’ says Blair Arsenault, operations engineer for the P.E.I. Energy Corporation. (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)Arsenault said with the nine remaining turbines, and now that the major problems are fixed and there are spare parts on hand, he’s confident operations will be running much more efficiently moving forward. “The first 10 years you can think of ‘let’s fix everything that is a problem,’” he said. “Now 10 years later, we have a good working turbine, they’re clean, the shop is clean, morale is up and it’s a good place to be compared to where it was three years ago.”Arsenault said it has been a rough couple Decembers, but “we’re hopeful for the future.” He said all of the electricity produced at the Hermanville wind farm is used on P.E.I. Phase II of Eastern Kings wind farm nearly complete Meanwhile, Arsenault said P.E.I. Energy Corporation is also close to completing work on Phase II of the Eastern Kings wind farm project.There will be seven turbines at that wind farm, and the project will be fully completed by the end of November, he said.Arsenault says now that the backup blades have arrived, there should be enough inventory to manage any future repairs for the next 10 to 15 years. (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)“We have our first two turbines online now and they are just working through connecting all the electrical components of the other turbines. All the crane work is all done already,” Arsenault said.He said the Eastern Kings wind farm will help the province manage its energy load, especially in the winter. The turbines there can operate in temperatures as low as -40 C and have a specific storm mode that can be activated during high wind events and storms.“We can be confident that Eastern Kings Phase II is going to be a good power producer for us,” he said. ABOUT THE AUTHORBrittany Spencer is a multi-platform reporter and producer with CBC Prince Edward Island. She’s covered politics, health care and the justice system. She’s a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University’s journalism program and joined CBC in 2017. You can reach her at brittany.spencer@cbc.caWith files from Cody MacKay
Turbines at Hermanville wind farm on the way to being fully operational
