Turbine Parts Fall Into Sea at Danish Offshore Wind Farm

A wind turbine rotor including three blades has separated from the nacelle of one of the offshore wind turbines and fallen into the sea at the Anholt wind farm offshore Denmark, Ørsted, the owner and operator of the wind farm, said.

There have been no injuries in the incident and the relevant authorities have been notified, Ørsted said.

The cause of the incident is being investigated.

The Anholt offshore wind farm was commissioned in 2013 and consists of 111 Siemens-Gamesa 3.6 MW wind turbines.

In what is described as an ”extraordinary precautionary measure’‘, Ørsted has asked the relevant authorities to establish ‘no-sail zones’ at all of the company’s offshore wind farms that feature the same turbine model as the Anholt wind farm – the Siemens Gamesa 3.6 MW – 4 MW wind turbine.

The investigation so far has not pointed to a systemic cause of the issue, Ørsted said, and the precautionary step was taken due to safety being the company’s first priority.

”The assets continue to operate as normal with the relevant safety protocols, and customers in the relevant markets will not be affected,” Ørsted said.

Besides Anholt, the offshore wind farms with ‘no-sail zones’ include West of Duddon Sands, Lincs, Gunfleet Sands, Burbo Bank, and Walney 1 & 2, all in the UK; Borkum Riffgrund 1 in Germany; and Avedøre Holme in Denmark.

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