Faulty wind turbines banned in Victoria over “dangerous incidents”

Victoria’s independent safety regulator has banned the supply of small wind turbines manufactured by local company Adant Services Group following a number of “dangerous incidents.”

Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) announced late last month that it was banning the supply “non-compliant small wind turbines by Adant Services Group (ASG) and its director Adam Falzon.

According to ESV, turbines sold by ASG, which trades as Australian Wind and Solar (AWS), have resulted in several dangerous incidents “where blades have detached at high speeds and components have fallen up to 12 metres.”

“The decision to ban a product is never made lightly, however it’s clear that the turbines supplied by ASG are unsafe,” said Leanne Hughson, Energy Safe Victoria CEO.

“Energy Safe is focused on ensuring all forms of energy are safe as we increase our reliance on more renewable and sustainable forms of power.

“We expect that all energy product suppliers and installers supply products that are safe, comply with relevant Australian Standards and can be safely operated.”

ESV says the ban on the supply of ASG turbines will remain in place until the company can demonstrate that they comply with the relevant safety standards.

Specifically, Energy Safe believes that turbines and turbine components supplied by ASG “are likely to become unsafe to use due to their design or construction” and, as a result, “fail to satisfy relevant Standards.”

In a lengthy post on its LinkedIn page last week, Australian Wind and Solar provided a rundown on the investigative process which led to ESV banning the sale of its turbines.

According to AWS, “ESV investigated 46 sites and wrote to ASG mid-December 2022 as it identified 6 sites where a component(s) of the system failed.”

In turn, the company “provided detailed reports in a lengthy response” which showed that three of the six sites failed because a component of the system failed, whereas the remaining three sites appear to have failed without system failure.

“ADANT Services Group Pty Ltd and its Director Mr Adam Falzon remain committed to the improvement and safety of small wind turbine in Australia by reinvesting in research and development and improving regulations,” the company concluded in its statement.

“We will continue to assist ESV in any way possible to achieve a positive outcome for the industry and consumers.”

According to a news report by Gabrielle Hodson with Australian Community Media, incidents at Ross Creek and Gordon contributed to the ban on AWS wind turbines. However, we have not been able to independently confirm incidents at these locations.

We have also reached out to Energy Save Victoria for further clarification on the incidents that led to this ban.