September 5, 2012
Australia

Wind farm piece falls from truck

By Peter Sanders | The Examiner | www.examiner.com.au 4 September 2012

Hydro Tasmania and wind farm contractor Vestas were yesterday working out how to recover a 56-tonne wind turbine component that rolled from a truck in the North-East.

The incident happened as the truck was taking the tower component from Western Junction to the Musselroe Wind Farm about 4am yesterday.

A second truck carrying a similar component reached the wind farm without incident.

Traffic on Waterhouse Road, near Gladstone in the North-East, continued as contractors cordoned off the huge metal tower section and attempts were made to repair the minor road damage that followed the incident.

Gladstone police Constable Cameron Tanner said that the component rolled away from the road and road traffic inspectors and wind farm representatives were on site early yesterday to investigate the incident and its cause.

Constable Tanner urged motorists to drive past the site with caution and for people to remain behind the marked safety area until the tower section was retrieved.

A Hydro Tasmania spokeswoman yesterday said that it was working with contractor Vestas to determine the best approach to recovering the unit, “hopefully in the next few days”.

“We’ll need to locate an appropriate crane or cranes, something that could be difficult in Tasmania,” the spokeswoman said.

The electricity generator confirmed that no one was injured in the incident, the component did not block the road and there was no public safety risk.

The Musselroe Wind Farm will see 168 such components, three of which are required for each tower, transported to the site.

The sections vary from 24-29 metres in length and weigh between 28 and 76 tonnes.

The spokeswoman said that the incident would not affect the Musselroe construction schedule.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/09/05/wind-farm-piece-falls-from-truck/