Turbine blade at newly commissioned wind farm in NSW bent in half by storms

A wind turbine blade at the newly commissioned Flyers Creek wind farm in New South Wales (NSW) has been bent in half as a result of storm damage.

The damage first occurred in June, and worsened last week, but was first reported, it appears, by Channel 7 Central West on Monday, and its vision shows that the turbine blade can be seen bent back in on itself.

The 145 megawatt (MW) Flyers Creek Wind Farm was only fully brought online in April, and is the largest wind farm in Essential Energy’s network.

It consists of 38 wind turbines located around 20 kilometres south of Orange in NSW’s Central West, and generates equivalent electricity to power 80,000 homes – enough to cover the nearby cities of Bathurst and Orange.

However, according to a statement issued to Renew Economy by owner Iberdrola Australia, a series of mishaps led to the blade of a single turbine suffering a catastrophic failure.

“There is currently visible damage to one of the turbine blades at Flyers Creek Wind Farm,” Iberdrola Australia said in its statement.

“The wind turbine blade initially suffered damage during a storm in late June and since that time it had been removed from service, with an exclusion zone established.

“On Wednesday 10th September a combination of a loss of electrical power and strong winds cause further damage to the blade. This was promptly identified by our site team and the exclusion zone around the turbine was expanded.

“A replacement blade has been ordered, and we are working with our operations and maintenance contractor to determine an appropriate return to service plan which will include the removal of the damaged blade.”

See also: Wind turbine blades fall off in the backyard of insurance giant

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