Wind turbine snaps into pieces as boss says 'it was only checked last year'

Ageing machine torn off at height of about 20 metres amid stormy weather at German wind farm

An ageing wind turbine collapsed and crashed into a corn field at Gescher in Germany’s North-Rhine Westphalia state.

Emergency services early Tuesday found the D4 turbine from no longer existing manufacturer DeWind had been torn off at a height of about 20 metres. No one was hurt.

“The remainder of the tower, along with the rotor blades and nacelle, lay across a farm track and in an adjacent field,” the Gescher fire brigade said in a note.

“The fire brigade secured the site and informed the operator and the public order office. … The public order office notified the lower water authorities because of the equipment in the generator head."

The fire brigade also said there could be connection problems in the area as a telephone provider also used the wind turbine as transmission mast.

The incident came as it became known this week that another wind turbine in the same state had caught fire, which the operator suspected had to do with frequent ramping up and down of the wind farm amid negative electricity prices.

Stormy weather may have caused the turbine to break, Hubert Upgang, managing director of Pröbsting Windkraft said, who took over operations at the wind farm last year.

"There was strong wind. We are still in the investigation finding. We still have to recover the controls from the gondola, Upgang told Recharge.

"The machine was only checked last year. According to a general test in 2020 with a stress profile, it could have run until 2030."