German television has broadcast images of the damaged Adwen M5000 turbine at the 60MW Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.
In a ‘NDR Hallo Niedersachsen’ report aired 25 April, wind industry group WAB head Andreas Wellbrock described the missing nacelle casing as a “setback” that will need to be scrutinised in order to make sure it does not happen again.
The entire nacelle casing on the turbine broke off earlier this month. Adwen experts are still investigating the incident to discover the reason for the damage.
Meanwhile, Adwen has suspended regular service operations at the manufacturer’s 5MW fleet in the German North Sea.
This includes the 400MW Global Tech 1 and the 200MW Trianel Borkum West 2.1 wind farms, as well as the remaining five Adwen M5000 machines at Alpha Ventus that are running in idling mode.
“Adwen experts are currently checking the 80 turbines operating at Global Tech 1 on a sample basis in order to examine in detail if there are indications for similar risks,” a Global Tech 1 spokeswoman said.
However the Global Tech 1 turbines are not the same as the Adwen machine installed at Alpha Ventus but a “further development”, she said.
Trianel’s Borkum West 2.1 offshore wind farm is offline due to DolWin 1 grid hub maintenance works by TSO TenneT, a Trianel spokesman said.
Meanwhile, service technicians have so far not been able to enter the damaged Alpha Ventus turbine as the helicopter winching area is missing and Adwen has not allowed boats to approach the turbine for safety reasons.
Adwen experts are inspecting the turbine via drones, it is understood.
Image: a TV image of the damaged Adwen turbine at Alpha Ventus (NDR Hallo Niedersachsen)
Germans air M5000 damage
By EBS