Turbine blade break at Australia’s largest wind farm prompts investigation

A turbine blade has broken at Australia’s largest wind farm, prompting an investigation by officials. The incident at the southwestern Queensland-based MacIntyre wind farm occurred in late December, about just two months after the 162-turbine project was connected to the power grid.

Renewable energy infrastructure company Acciona developed the wind farm. The company confirmed that the damaged blade remains attached to the turbine. Company officials also stated no injuries were reported.

A spokesperson for Acciona said that the company is working with their turbine supplier, Nordex, to identify the cause of the failure and to determine a safe method for removing the blade.

“Our investigation team are working with our turbine supplier to review all records specific to the affected wind turbine and blade,” Acciona spokesperson Andrew Tshaikiwsky said. “The investigation and recovery process will take some time to conduct to ensure that gain a thorough understanding of what caused the blade failure.”

Officials established an exclusion zone around the affected turbine. The zone will remain in place until inspections are finished.

This incident in Australia follows another blade failure over the summer at the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts in the United States. In that case, debris from the turbine washed up on nearby beaches for more than a month.