Turbine down | Collapse and oil spill shuts one of Europe's largest and newest wind farms | Incident closes Nordex-equipped Nysäter project in Sweden just weeks after ribbon-cutting by RWE | By Andrew Lee | Recharge | 18 July 2022 | www.rechargenews.com
The collapsed turbine at Nysater.Photo: With permission from Birgitta Jansson via Facebook
An investigation is underway after a turbine collapse that closed one of Europe’s largest and newest onshore wind farms just weeks after it was inaugurated.
A turbine fell at the 475MW Nysäter project in northern Sweden around midday on Saturday, said a statement on the project’s website.
No one was injured but there was a suspected oil leak from the affected turbine’s gearbox and the entire wind farm is now closed, it added, urging the public to stay away.
“We suspect that oil from the gearbox may have leaked and the relevant authorities are informed,” said the statement.
“A crash team is on its way to the crashed turbine, and is expected to begin work on Monday 18 July. Until their investigation is completed, the entire wind farm will be closed.”
The array features 104 220-metre-high Nordex N149\u002F4.0-4.5MW turbines and ten Nordex N131\u002F3900 machines. The statement gave no further details of the turbine involved in the incident and Nordex has been contacted for comment.
Nysäter was commissioned in June by German utility RWE which built and will operate the project as a 20% minority shareholder. The balance of the project is owned by Switzerland’s Energy Infrastructure Partners.
RWE said in a statement sent to Recharge:”We can confirm that one wind turbine collapsed on Saturday at the Nysäter wind farm, about 400km north of Stockholm. No one was injured in the accident. The area is currently closed and the wind farm has been taken out of service for the time being as a precaution.
“The reason is currently being investigated. We expect first results from the root cause analysis in the next two weeks.”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2022/07/21/turbine-down-collapse-and-oil-spill-shuts-one-of-europes-largest-and-newest-wind-farms/