The Danish wind giant is dealing with fallout from a fire on one of its turbine models. A number of operating turbines were paused following the fire, and the company responded to media questions this week.

OSHA said Monday it has cited Vestas for one willful and 23 serious violations following an inspection of the wind turbine manufacturing plant. The inspection was initiated after an employee suffered a partial amputation of two fingers and a broken wrist in November. OSHA has proposed $164,000 in fines against Vestas.

A construction flaw in the foundations of many sea-based wind turbines was not discovered by inspectors who approved the structures' operation One of the most common foundations for sea-based wind turbines has a critical flaw but was nonetheless approved by a Nordic certification company, reports trade journal Ingeniøren. ...‘It's something no one could foresee and can give any engineer nightmares,' he said.

Wind turbine blades rip loose near Esbjerg and southwestern Sweden, one landing on a hiking path A malfunction on a Vestas wind turbine in the town of Falkenberg on Sweden's southwest coast could have resulted in tragedy, as one of the structure's large blades flew off and landed on a track used by hikers.

On February 22 a 600 kW Nordtank wind turbine at Halling in eastern Jutland experienced a so called runwaway event causing its blades to spin out of control. Minutes later the blades collided with the tower and caused the turbine to collapse. In an unrelated event at Vig in Odsherred a Vestas V47 600kW wind turbine lost a blade. In both cases, Vestas assume that human errors in service and maintenance caused the events, but points out that they are in process of finding the accurate causes.

The climate minister will begin an investigation into two separate cases of Vestas wind turbines collapsing within the past week The climate minister, Connie Hedegaard, is calling for an investigation to determine the cause of two violent wind turbine collapses in Denmark in the past week. Both of the windmills were produced by Vestas, and Hedegaard's request to the Energy Board comes after other breakdowns both here and abroad have been reported in the past two months.

After the industry's recent boom years, wind power providers and experts are now concerned. The facilities may not be as reliable and durable as producers claim. Indeed, with thousands of mishaps, breakdowns and accidents having been reported in recent years, the difficulties seem to be mounting. Gearboxes hiding inside the casings perched on top of the towering masts have short shelf lives, often crapping out before even five years is up. In some cases, fractures form along the rotors, or even in the foundation, after only limited operation. Short circuits or overheated propellers have been known to cause fires. All this despite manufacturers' promises that the turbines would last at least 20 years.