A rotor and three blades have separated from a turbine nacelle and fallen into the sea at Orsted’s 400MW Anholt Offshore Wind Farm (pictured) in Denmark.
No-one was injured and the relevant authorities have been notified about the incident, Orsted said.
However, as an “extraordinary precautionary measure”, it has requested that authorities establish “no-sail zones” at all of its offshore wind farms that use the same turbine as at Anholt, a Siemens-Gamesa 3.6MW – 4MW model.
Besides Anholt, the offshore wind farms with ‘no-sail zones’ are: West of Duddon Sands, Lincs, Gunfleet Sands, Burbo Bank and Walney 1 & 2, all in the UK, Borkum Riffgrund 1 in Germany, and Avedore Holme in Denmark.
The Danish developer said in a statement: “We are investigating the cause of the incident, and as an extraordinary precautionary measure, we are requesting the relevant authorities to establish ‘no-sail zones’ at all of our offshore wind farms that use the same turbine as at Anholt, namely a Siemens-Gamesa 3.6 MW – 4 MW wind turbine.
“So far, the investigation has not pointed to a systemic cause of the issue, but we have taken this precautionary step as safety is our first priority.
“The assets continue to operate as normal with the relevant safety protocols, and customers in the relevant markets will not be affected.”
A Siemens Gamesa spokesperson added: “At the offshore wind farm of Anholt in Denmark, which is under service with Orsted, a rotor was detached from one of the turbines.
“The reason for this is still unknown, but Siemens Gamesa is working together with Orsted to determine the root cause and decide on next steps.”
Anholt was commissioned in 2013 and consists of 111 Siemens-Gamesa 3.6MW wind turbines.