National Wind Watch: Wind Energy News » Wind turbine collapses outside Hunter; cause under investigation

A wind turbine at the Chisholm View wind farm near Hunter, Okla., collapsed Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Enel Green Power North America, which owns the turbine, is working to determine why it fell. Access to the site was blocked for safety reasons as of Wednesday, May 22, 2019.
Mitchell Willetts | Enid News & Eagle

HUNTER, Okla. – Enel Green Power North America is investigating why a wind turbine belonging to the company collapsed Tuesday, May 21, 2019, near this rural community.

“Enel Green Power North America is working with the turbine manufacturer GE to investigate an incident that occurred yesterday involving a turbine failure at our Chisholm View II wind project in Grant County, Oklahoma,” the company said Wednesday in a statement. The wind farm’s footprint extends into both Grant and Garfield counties.

The turbine was part of Enel Green Power’s 6,000 acre, 64.8 megawatt Chisholm View II wind farm, located immediately east of Hunter.

This wind farm was built adjacent to the original, much larger, Chisholm View project, which sits on 45,000 acres. Construction of Chisholm View II began on the project in summer 2012, and the wind farm began operating in 2016, adding another 64.8 megawatts to the first project’s 235 megawatts.

Access to the turbine was blocked Wednesday morning for safety, an Enel Green representative near the site said. Nobody had been within 300 feet of the GE 2.4 megawatt turbine since it collapsed, he added, though one employee had piloted a drone up to the wreckage earlier in the day, attempting to assess structural damage.

Workers were waiting on an Enel Green investigation team to arrive at the site to determine cause, he said.

“Our first concern, as always, is ensuring the safety of our workers, contractors and the surrounding communities, and given the ongoing nature of the investigation, we ask that the community avoid the area of the incident,” the statement said.