Siemens Gamesa 5.X wind turbine suffers ‘blade liberation’

Blade break incident took place at wind farm in Finland, with investigation now underway into cause

A Siemens Gamesa 5.X wind turbine has suffered a “blade liberation” at a wind farm in Finland.

The “liberation” – terminology that echoes the space industry's use of "rapid unscheduled disassembly" to describe a catastrophic rocket ship explosion – took place on 14 August at the Sandbacka wind farm, Siemens Gamesa confirmed to Recharge.

This 92.4MW project made up of 14 SG 6.6-170 wind turbines sits in the Finnish region of Ostrobothnia. It is owned by German-baseed asset manager Prime Capital.

“No persons were injured,” said Siemens Gamesa. “The area has been secured, and an investigation into the cause of the incident has begun.”

“Siemens Gamesa is in close contact with the customer to address the situation.”

The Sandbacka wind farm is a 92.4MW project made up of 14 SG 6.6-170 wind turbines. The SG 6.6-170 is a 2021 upgrade of the turbine-maker’s 5.X onshore wind turbine platform.
German-owned Siemens Gamesa stopped sales of its 5.X and 4.X onshore platforms back in 2023 after detecting serial defects in the machines.

The 4.X was returned to the market last year and recently secured its first order since its re-release. Siemens Gamesa announced this month that it has now started sales for an upgraded 5.X platform.

Two other SG 5.8-170 turbines recently suffered blade breaks – or ‘liberations’ – at a Swedish wind farm.