A 300ft wind turbine in South Wales collapsed in 50mph winds causing it to “overspeed”, snapping its blades.
The incident in February prompted turbine manufacturer Nordex to launch an investigation into the cause of the failure at the £20 million Pant y Wal wind farm in Gilfach Goch, near Bridgend.
Concluding the investigation a spokesman for Nordex said: “A Root Cause Analysis investigation determined that a technical issue, starting within an Uninterrupted Power Supply cabinet for one of the blades, triggered an unprecedented chain of events in quick succession.
“This disabled the main power supply and the backup power supply to each blade of the pitch system, therefore all three blades of the wind turbine were left without power resulting in a fixed state.
“The wind speed conditions on the day increased putting the wind turbine into an overspeed condition until it collapsed.”
The Nordex spokesperson added: “Temporary measures are being implemented to reduce the likelihood further.
“A permanent solution is being developed to mitigate the residual likelihood.”
Those living near the farm expressed their shock as the incident came at a time when Storms Dudley and Eunice brought 50mph winds to the UK, registering a “strong gale” on the Beaufort scale.
At full capacity, the Pant y Wal wind farm could produce enough power to supply 18 thousand homes.
This turbine (one of 10 £2m structures) stood at the plant near Bridgend since 2013, however, its collapse has raised safety concerns over other wind turbines across the Welsh valleys, prompting Nordex to inspect all the remaining turbines at Pant y Wal.
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A spokeswoman for turbine manufacturers Nordex said:"Unfortunately an incident occurred at the Pant Y Wal wind farm in Wales. On Monday, a N90/2500 turbine collapsed. No persons were injured." pic.twitter.com/zcLqWCFI5n
— WalesOnline 🏴 (@WalesOnline) February 15, 2022
One local resident describe their perspective on the incident, saying: “It was around 7 am and fairly dark.
“My wife has stables about half a mile from the wind farm. She said she heard odd pulsing noises and then heard the crash about 30 minutes later.”
This has prompted local anti-wind farm campaigner Rhodri Williams to raise concerns about the likelihood of turbines in the area destroying people’s homes.
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