December 1, 2015
Denmark

Wind turbine on Samsø crumbled into the sea

By Lucie Rychla | Copenhagen Post | December 1st, 2015 | cphpost.dk

A large turbine at a Samsø offshore windfarm was wrecked on Saturday, bringing electricity production at the site to a halt.

For unknown reasons, the 100-metre-high turbine lost its top part and all of its wings, which then fell into the sea.

The turbine is one of ten that are part of the island’s Paludan Flak wind project, which has been in service for over ten years.

Søren Hermansen, a shareholder in the project, has called the incident “a disaster”.

The entire wind farm was brought to an abrupt halt and it will take a long time before the damaged turbine is repaired.

Mysterious incident

“Just ten minutes before the turbine snapped, it was operating normally,” Hermansen told DR.

“It’s not until we take a look at the black box that we will be able to analyse what exactly happened.”

The wind turbines were built by Siemens, which is also responsible for maintenance.

The company has not been able to explain what could have caused the damage.