January 9, 2013
Pennsylvania

Gamesa denies blade responsibility

By Karl-Erik Stromsta in London | Published: Wednesday, January 09 2013 | www.rechargenews.com

Spanish wind turbine maker Gamesa has denied any knowledge of or responsibility for a rotor blade that snapped off one of its 2MW G87 machines at the Allegheny Ridge wind farm in Pennsylvania over the weekend.

Gamesa developed, built and manufactured the components for Allegheny Ridge, which was one of the largest wind farms in Pennsylvania when it was commissioned in 2007. The 80MW project has been owned and operated for several years by Australia’s Infigen Energy.

While no injuries or further damage occurred, Infigen shut down all 40 turbines as a temporary precaution. It is unclear what caused the blade to break off roughly two-thirds of the way down, although strong winds were reported over the weekend.

Infigen and Gamesa have locked horns in the past over the bill for repairs and lost production resulting from various warranty-related disputes, the most significant of which involved the Kumeyaay wind farm in California, at which Gamesa replaced 75 blades at 2MW turbines several years ago.

In 2011 a blade broke off an 850kW Gamesa turbine in India and reportedly hit a transmission line on its way down.

A Gamesa spokesman tells Recharge the company “has had no involvement” with Allegheny Ridge since September 2009.

“That means someone else conducts ongoing operation and maintenance, and we have no knowledge of their services here,” he says, adding: “We stand by the quality of our turbines.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/01/09/gamesa-denies-blade-responsibility/