NextEra Energy Resources is investigating after a GE 1.7MW turbine toppled over in a cornfield at the 75MW Steele Flats wind farm in southeast Nebraska.
The site manager discovered the turbine collapse when the unit went offline about 5am on June 13, NextEra spokesperson Bryan Garner told reNEWS. There were no injuries.
“Turbine failures are rare and this is the first time we have had one at this site,” said Garner.
“All other turbines at the site are operating,” he added.
The manufacturer believes the collapse is an isolated incident, GE spokesperson Becky Norton told reNEWS.
“We’re working closely with the wind farm operator to determine the root cause,” said Norton.
The wind farm consists of 44 turbines – 32 located in Jefferson County and 12 in Gage County.
Steele Flats started operating in October 2013 and the output is delivered to the Nebraska Public Power District.
This is the third turbine accident NextEra has had in less than a month. A Clipper turbine went up in flames in Iowa last week and a blade broke on a GE 1.7MW XLE turbine at a project in Oklahoma in late May.
Image: Steele Flats wind farm (NextEra)
