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German Autobahn temporarily shut as wind turbine blade threatened to fall off
Credit: Bernd Radowitz · Published 8 January 2026 · rechargenews.com ~~
A major German Autobahn near Cologne was temporarily shut down – causing traffic chaos – after a broken blade on a relatively new Nordex wind turbine was threatening to fall off.
Broken blade at RWE’s Bedburg A44n wind farm at Nordex N149 wind turbine. Photo: Bedburg fire department.
The broken turbine blade at RWE’s ‘Bedburg A44n’ wind farm was “hanging by a thread,” a Nordex spokesman confirmed, but added that there was no danger that it would crash into the nearby A44 motorway as it is 270 metres away from the turbine.
Nordex said the cause of the incident at the N149 turbine is yet unknown. No one was hurt. Blades very rarely break off relatively new wind turbines, with most such incidents occuring to much older machines.
The Bedburg fire department stated that authorities initially determined a security radius of 400 metres around the wind turbine, and therefore fully blocked the A44 on Wednesday.
The highway was reopened again that same evening, Nordex said. The manufacturer has also remotely rotated the nacelle 180° and turned the damaged rotor blade away from the side facing the highway.
Bedburg fire department incident commander Guido Garbe told Recharge that winds yesterday at first had been more unpredictable, and the highway was closed to ensure that even smaller parts of the blade couldn’t reach it.
“It was windy, with snow flurries and turbulence,” he said, adding that the weather now is steadier, with winds blowing away from the highway.
It wasn’t clear Wednesday morning whether the blade would completely fall off by itself or expert teams would need to be deployed in freezing weather conditions to remove it manually.
“A team of experts from the Nordex Group, working closely with the customer, has begun investigating the cause of the incident. However, no reliable statement can currently be made regarding the underlying cause,” Nordex said in a statement.
“The removal of the rotor blade is expected to be completed as soon as possible. Due to weather conditions, no more precise timeframe can be given at this time.”
RWE had no immediate comment.
The 28.5MW wind farm with five Nordex 5.7MW machines was completed in 2022 on a recultivated former lignite mine. It is still officially owned by Nordex due to bureaucratic formalities.
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| Tag: Accidents |
