Botched wind turbine blade delivery takes out tree and street signs in rural town

Trouble is brewing between a regional Victorian council and the authority governing the safe transport of massive wind turbine parts, after a truck carrying a 70 metre turbine blade caused damage and traffic jams in the country town of Ararat.

Reports emerged this week that a truck a wind turbine blade destined for the Bulgana Green Power Hub, a nearly 200 megawatt project owned by Neoen Australia north of Stawell, got stuck in a residential street while in the process of making a turn.

Ararat Rural City Council says the incident resulted in disruptions to municipal services and school bus operations, extended road blockages and damages to council assets including the loss of a “street tree” – which had to be cut down – and a number of street signs.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the council said it was seeking to recover costs for these damages from the transport company contracted to deliver the turbine blade, and will also seek to “assign a penalty to the operator for breaching permit conditions relating to times of operation.”

In the meantime, it has requested immediate withdrawal of council consent for permits lodged through the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) Portal, for the transport of two further turbine blades, while a more suitable route is identified.

The council says that while it consented to an Over-size Over-mass (OSOM) permit application for the transport of four wind turbine blades from Geelong to the Bulgana wind farm, the approval came with the condition that an alteration was made to the route within Ararat.

For reasons that are currently the subject of an investigation – and the cause of some blame shifting between NHVR and Ararat council – the proposed route alteration was not used.

In an email to Renew Economy on Wednesday, council said past rejections or proposed alterations to operator permits had received pushback from the NHVR and transport operators, putting pressure on council to justify its actions to protect community and infrastructure.

“Moving forward, Council will not be issuing approvals (even conditionally) without absolute confirmation that proposed alterations will be adhered to,” a council spokesperson said.

A statement from NHVR shared with Renew Economy on Wednesday says it is aware of the incident and will work with the trucking operator and Ararat Council to ensure the safety of future heavy vehicle movements on the region’s roads.

“All processes were followed in attaining and approving permits, with an approved Transport Management Plan also in place detailing how the Oversize Overmass movement was going to be safely carried out,” the statement says. 

The transport of enormous wind turbine blade parts, along with turbine tower parts that require a height clearance close to seven meters, is a feat of logistics that comes at a big cost to developers, often including the price of police escorts. It is also a source of concern for the communities who use the roads on a daily basis.

Logistics aside, the deliveries put local roads to the test, from blades that can weigh up to 32 tons being ferried huge “blade-runner” trucks that – with their load included – weigh closer to a total of 100 tons.

Neoen, while the owner of the Bulgana project, has contracted the engineering, procurement and construction of the wind farm to Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE), and so has declined to comment on the incident.

Renew Economy is seeking to determine the name of the transport company contracted to deliver the blades and to make contact with SGRE. More to come.

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