No injuries reported after equipment failure at the Odal Vind wind farm in Norway
11 April 2024 - 15:02
byStine Jacobsen
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Copenhagen — A wind turbine blade made by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and weighing 22 tonnes fell off the machinery on Wednesday though no-one was hurt, the Odal Vind wind farm in Norway said.
The accident occurred a month after the company halted several of its turbines because of blade damage.
The 72-metre blade was from a Siemens Gamesa 5.0-145 turbine, part of the turbine maker’s 4.X platform, a spokesperson for the wind farm said on Thursday.
The incident is the latest challenge for Siemens Energy after what shareholders say was a botched takeover of turbine maker Gamesa, forcing it to seek billions of euros in state-backed guarantees.
Odal Vind said last month it had already stopped 15 of the wind farm’s 34 turbines because of blade damage linked to a production problem.
“A crisis team has been established, and technical personnel from Siemens Gamesa are on site,” Cloudberry Clean Energy, which owns a 33.4% stake in the wind farm, said in a statement.
Siemens Gamesa warned last year of quality problems at its onshore unit, with most of the issues linked to certain rotor blades and main bearings at its two most recent wind turbine platforms, the 4.X and 5.X.
“It is still too early to say anything on the cause of the incident,” the Odal Vind spokesperson said, declining to say whether the incident was linked to the previously reported quality issues.
“As usual in such cases, we have started the safety protocol and stopped the turbines at the wind farm ... We now need to investigate the cause of this incident and are in contact with the customer to do so,” Siemens Gamesa said in an emailed comment.
Siemens Energy, the world’s largest maker of offshore wind turbines, expects to report a loss before special items of about €2bn at Siemens Gamesa for the 2024 financial year.
Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch said in February that the quality issues at Siemens Gamesa’s onshore business surfaced on the basis of empirical usage data of newer turbines that weren’t been available at the time of the takeover.
Cloudberry said the incident was covered by Odal Vind’s warranties, and wasn’t expected to have any significant financial implications.
The other owners of Odal Vind are Akershus Energi with a 33.4% stake and pension fund KLP with 33.2%.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Siemens-made wind turbine loses 22-tonne blade
No injuries reported after equipment failure at the Odal Vind wind farm in Norway
Copenhagen — A wind turbine blade made by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and weighing 22 tonnes fell off the machinery on Wednesday though no-one was hurt, the Odal Vind wind farm in Norway said.
The accident occurred a month after the company halted several of its turbines because of blade damage.
The 72-metre blade was from a Siemens Gamesa 5.0-145 turbine, part of the turbine maker’s 4.X platform, a spokesperson for the wind farm said on Thursday.
The incident is the latest challenge for Siemens Energy after what shareholders say was a botched takeover of turbine maker Gamesa, forcing it to seek billions of euros in state-backed guarantees.
Odal Vind said last month it had already stopped 15 of the wind farm’s 34 turbines because of blade damage linked to a production problem.
“A crisis team has been established, and technical personnel from Siemens Gamesa are on site,” Cloudberry Clean Energy, which owns a 33.4% stake in the wind farm, said in a statement.
Siemens Gamesa warned last year of quality problems at its onshore unit, with most of the issues linked to certain rotor blades and main bearings at its two most recent wind turbine platforms, the 4.X and 5.X.
“It is still too early to say anything on the cause of the incident,” the Odal Vind spokesperson said, declining to say whether the incident was linked to the previously reported quality issues.
“As usual in such cases, we have started the safety protocol and stopped the turbines at the wind farm ... We now need to investigate the cause of this incident and are in contact with the customer to do so,” Siemens Gamesa said in an emailed comment.
Siemens Energy, the world’s largest maker of offshore wind turbines, expects to report a loss before special items of about €2bn at Siemens Gamesa for the 2024 financial year.
Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch said in February that the quality issues at Siemens Gamesa’s onshore business surfaced on the basis of empirical usage data of newer turbines that weren’t been available at the time of the takeover.
Cloudberry said the incident was covered by Odal Vind’s warranties, and wasn’t expected to have any significant financial implications.
The other owners of Odal Vind are Akershus Energi with a 33.4% stake and pension fund KLP with 33.2%.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.