An investigation is underway after a turbine caught fire at a wind farm operated by EnBW in Germany.
The incident happened yesterday evening at the 9MW Bremervörde wind farm in Lower Saxony.
It is the first incident of its kind at a facility operated by EnBW, the company said.
The fire involved a Südwind S70 wind turbine (example pictured), which has a hub height of 65 metres and an output of 1.5MW.
At around 7pm, the local fire department informed EnBW that local residents had reported smoke coming from the site.
Shortly afterwards, a fire broke out on the turbine. Around 100 firefighters attended the scene from about 7.30pm.
The nacelle of the wind turbine burned down completely, while the transformer station remained undamaged.
Parts of the rotor blades and other components fell into the surrounding area and the surrounding fields were contaminated.
The fire department and police secured the surrounding area and no one was injured. There was no danger to residents or traffic at any time, EnBW said.
The company immediately initiated measures to assess and rectify the damage.
The relevant authorities and appointed experts will be on site from today to assess the situation.
EnBW has pledged to clarify the cause of the incident and the stability of the plant as soon as possible.
A spokesperson said: “EnBW is working closely with the relevant authorities as well as the fire department and police to investigate the exact cause, assess the situation and initiate any further necessary steps.
“The safety of local residents and employees is always the highest priority. The entire wind farm has been disconnected from the grid for safety reasons.”