Third Vestas turbine collapse forces US wind farm offline
Wind farm was commissioned in 2020 with 175 Vestas turbines, three of which have now reportedly collapsed since late April
UPDATED: A 400MW wind farm in the US Midwestern state of Missouri has been temporarily shut down after suffering the third collapse of a Vestas turbine in just six months.
A V120-2.2 MW Mk11D machine collapsed on Thursday at the High Prairie wind farm.
A local resident who witnessed the incident said that the blades fell from the turbine first, two of them shattering, with its base bending and collapsing soon after, reported local television station KTVO.
Video footage from KTVO shows the turbine lying in a grassy field, the tower snapped near the base and blades nearby.
The wind farm was commissioned in 2020 and is owned by US utility Ameren, which bought the site in 2021. Its 175 turbines can power 120,000 homes.
"All plant personnel are safe and accounted for, the site has been secured, and there were no injuries."
"As an extraordinary precaution, the remaining turbines at the site have been paused. We are conducting root cause analysis of the incident and working to get the wind park back in safe operation."
Ameren’s director of renewable operations David Meiners told KTVO that "a thorough assessment will be conducted to determine the cause of this incident."
This is the third turbine that has collapsed at the project, with other incidents taking place in late April and August.