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An offshore wind farm under construction near Britain suffered a blade failure in high wind conditions during the commissioning process, according to turbine supplier G.E. Vernova Inc.
According to an emailed statement from the company on Friday, the failure at the Dogger Bank project on Aug. 22 occurred when some of the turbine’s key systems were inactive due to commissioning work. Commissioning involves working on turbines to prepare them for power generation.
It was the latest failure of a GE Vernova blade in recent months – a series of incidents that has been a public black eye for the company’s struggling offshore wind business. Another blade failed at the same Dogger Bank project in May, while a failure at the Vineyard Wind project in the US in July led to fiberglass fragments washing ashore and beaches being closed in one of the Northeast’s most expensive holiday destinations.
“We continue to investigate recent offshore wind incidents involving our blades and are taking all necessary steps in collaboration with customers and authorities to safely proceed with the installation of the Dogger Bank and Vineyard wind farms,” a GE Vernova spokesperson said in the statement.
GE Vernova shares rose 2.5% and were trading above $196 at 11:51 a.m. in New York. Shares have risen about 50% since their debut earlier this year.
The incident occurred this month when a major storm hit the region, causing high winds at the Dogger Bank site on the north-east coast of England. The turbine rotor had become locked in its position and the yaw system that rotates the nacelle to face the wind had become inoperative.
In a statement, Dogger Bank said that “the turbine was left in a static position, making it vulnerable during an oncoming storm with high winds,” and that “GE Vernova analysis showed this blade event was not caused by an installation or manufacturing issue.”
According to GE Vernova, the Dogger Bank incident in May was caused by an installation problem, and the blade failure in July was linked to a manufacturing issue, and the company said it was taking steps to prevent additional accidents.
With assistance from Cameron Baker and Josh Sauls.
This article is generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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