A turbine collapse in Northern Ireland has closed the entire windfarm down as investigations continue into the cause.
The turbine, worth over £500,000, appears to have buckled near the base of its 80m tower causing its three 40m blades to hit the hillside in County Tyrone. The noise was said to be heard up to seven miles away. A similar event in Scotland occurred in 2007, when a turbine fell to the ground. Neither event resulted in injury.
RenewableUK’s director of health and safety, Chris Streatfeild, said: “A thorough investigation is already underway into what happened in this extremely rare incident. The wind industry takes health and safety issues very seriously. There’s a rigorous process in place to ensure that installation standards are adhered to strictly, including a detailed risk assessment so that every turbine is sited in a safe place.”
Cedrec's take
To have so few incidents such as the one reported for an industry which has around 4,800 commercial turbines is testament to how well the design and engineering of the turbines work.
Thankfully, this collapse, like the one in 2007, did not hurt anyone, but it is reassuring to see Nordex UK, the supplier of the turbine, taking it so seriously as to close the windfarm to ensure safety.
