WAS BIRD STRIKE TO BLAME FOR BLADES INCIDENT AT OFFSHORE WIND TURBINE?

 

With 111 turbines, the Anholt windfarm is one of the largest in the world (Photo: Ørsted)

A PROBE is underway after three blades fell from an offshore windfarm operated by Ørsted.

The incident earlier this month did not occur at any of the  company's UK windfarms but at the Anholt wind farm off the Danish coast.

Somehow the blades, plus the nacelle, became dislodged and crashed into the sea.

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

Fortunately, no one was in the vicinity at the time, so there were no injuries.

However, at the request of Ørsted, the authorities imposed temporary no-shipping restrictions - since lifted - around those of its Europe-located offshore windfarms that use the same blades while checks were carried out on the integrity of the structures.

It is understood that preliminary investigations have not revealed a 'systemic cause' to the mishap. 

One theory is that a bird collision may have been involved, but it would have had to have been very large species - perhaps a skein of migrating pink-footed geese or whooper swans. 

* In a separate development, at the AGM last week, Ørsted shareholders approved the company making a humanitarian aid payment to Ukraine.