Two wind turbines self-destruct in one week

Wind turbine blades rip loose near Esbjerg and southwestern Sweden, one landing on a hiking path

A malfunction on a Vestas wind turbine in the town of Falkenberg on Sweden’s southwest coast could have resulted in tragedy, as one of the structure’s large blades flew off and landed on a track used by hikers.

Yesterday’s incident follows a similar one this weekend near Esbjerg, where a defective axel caused all of the blades on a 40m high turbine to rip loose, one of them hitting a power transformer.

Both wind turbines were produced in Denmark.

And, although no one was injured in either incident, the accidents have brought the problem of faulty wind turbines into focus. The wind turbine industry in Sweden has now proposed setting up a commission to investigate the many incidents.

Rune Birk Nielsen, head of communications for the Danish Wind Industry Association, told The Copenhagen Post the organisation was behind getting the recent law passed requiring inspections to take place at least once a year. But he said it was up to the Energy Agency to ensure any widescale investigations.

Since 2000, there have been 27 incidents in Denmark of turbine blades coming loose.

The Esbjerg wind turbine was 11 years old and manufactured at Wincon’s plant in the Jutland town of Bjerringbro. The company’s technicians are looking into what caused the axel to snap.