Huge 300ft turbine that crashed to the ground had spun too fast, investigation concludes

Credit: The huge turbine in south Wales sounded 'like thunder' as it crashed to the ground in February | By Laura Clements, Senior Reporter | 26 AUG 2022 | www.walesonline.co.uk ~~

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The wind turbine at Gilfach Goch (Image: Gerald Keogh)

An in-built safety system designed to bring a wind turbine to a safe stop failed and ultimately led to its collapse at a Welsh valleys wind farm, it’s been confirmed.

The Nordex-designed 300ft wind turbine crashed to the ground at Gilfach Goch in February this year becoming separated from its base and completely destroying its blades. Locals reported hearing loud noises coming from the Pant-y-Wal wind farm throughout the night of February 13 before waking up to see the turbine blown over on Monday morning.

An investigation by Nordex has shown the Nordex N90/2500 wind turbine collapsed after running for over four hours in an “overspeed condition”. The wind farm owners Pennant Walters have since removed the turbine components and placed them in storage.

A spokesman for Nordex said: “A Root Cause Analysis (RCA) investigation determined that a technical issue, starting within an Uninterrupted Power Supply cabinet for one of the blades, triggered an unprecedented chain of events in quick succession. This disabled the main power supply and the backup power supply to each blade of the pitch system, therefore all three blades of the wind turbine were left without power resulting in a fixed state.

“The wind speed conditions on the day increased putting the wind turbine into an overspeed condition until it collapsed.”

Following the incident, which raised concerns over the safety of Wales wind turbines, Nordex inspected all the remaining turbines at Pant-Y-Wal wind farm in Rhondda Cynon Taf. Any likelihood for human injury was considered to be low and no further action was taken at the farm.

Nordex added: “Temporary measures are being implemented to reduce the likelihood further. A permanent solution is being developed to mitigate the residual likelihood.”

Source: The huge turbine in south Wales sounded 'like thunder' as it crashed to the ground in February | By Laura Clements, Senior Reporter | 26 AUG 2022 | www.walesonline.co.uk

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