OX2 is investigating the cause of a blade failure at the 175MW Bjorkvattnet wind farm project in northern Sweden.
The company has confirmed that a blade broke off one of the project’s GE 5.3-158 Cypress machines on Friday March 13.
“The damage was discovered…when technicians were driving to the site and noticed the broken blade from the nearby departmental road,” a spokesperson said.
“Initial assessments confirm that one blade snapped. The broken part has landed at the foot of the wind turbine. A part remains attached to the wind turbine, and no hanging part can be found at the time of the inspection.
“The immediate area around the turbine has been secured. No injuries have been reported. Personnal located at the wind farm are monitoring the site. An investigation is issued together with the turbine manufacturer and the owner to determine the cause of the incident.”
Bjorkvattnet has been operating since 2021 and supplies energy to Google under a power purchase agreement signed in 2019.
The project (pictured) is managed by OX2 on behalf of owners InfraVia Capital Partners and is equipped with a total of 33 of the GE units, which have two-piece blades.
Blade failure events at the project were also recorded in September 2021 and July 2022.
Root cause analyses of these events determined a non-conclusive outcome for the breakage in 2021, and factors most likely “related to installation time” for the failure in 2023, OX2 has previously told reNEWS.
GE Vernova stated: “On March 13, 2026, a blade event occurred at the BJV wind farm in Sweden. There we no injuries. We are working with our customer to investigate the event.”