Vestas and EDPR to investigate why V150 blade broke off at Ohio site

Vestas and developer EDPR issue statements over a blade failure at the Timber Road 4 wind farm in the US state of Ohio

by Andrew McCorkell 10 September 2020

A picture of the turbine after the blade broke off was posted on Twitter (Pic: Jeremy Kitson/Twitter)

Vestas and developer EDP Renewables are investigating after the blade of a V150 4.2MW turbine at the聽125MW Timber Road IV project broke off. The project was commissioned earlier this year.

The companies issued a joint statement saying they could not speculate on claims about possible causes made on Twitter.

The parties said they had secured the site and are conducting a root cause analysis to evaluate what may have caused the incident, adding they would not comment further until this is completed.

"Following the occurrence, Vestas and EDP Renewables completed a site-wide inspection of the blades on the other 30 wind turbines at Timber Road IV Wind Farm, and no additional damage nor an indication of other failures were found," the joint statement read.

"The full backing and resources behind Vestas will be focused on the investigation, and at this time, Vestas and EDP Renewables personnel are assessing the turbine blade damage and have conducted meetings with management teams to discuss a path forward."

The companies said that a date for the blade replacement had not yet been set, but the turbine would return to service.

"We cannot speculate on the cause of the incident and are conducting a root cause analysis to evaluate what may have caused the incident.

"EDP Renewables is also working closely with the Ohio Power Siting Board and local law enforcement on its public safety response efforts, and as appropriate, will share more information as the investigation occurs."

The incident gained publicity after a local wind opponent tweeted a picture of the damaged turbine.

Repair costs

Separately, Vestas was hit by a 鈧5 million loss in the second quarter of this year, with its earnings down from blade repair costs.

There were 鈧175 million of extraordinary warranty provisions for the 鈥渟pecific repair and upgrade of already-installed blades鈥 the company said when presenting its results in August.聽

CEO Henrik Andersen told reporters at a press conference that the issue was related to "high-intensity lightning".

The manufacturer said provisions were 鈥渘ot related鈥 to current or future production but cover a specific repair and upgrade.