Turbine fire under investigation at one of NSW’s earliest wind farms

Investigations are underway into the cause of a wind turbine fire at the 30MW Cullerin Range wind farm in the New South Wales Southern Tablelands.

The Senvion turbine at the EDL Energy-owned project caught fire on Thursday morning, last week, and then “self extinguished” later that morning, while being monitored by the NSW Rural Fire Services.

No one was hurt in the incident and no further fires were sparked from the turbine fire, according to Rural Fire Services spokesman Greg Allan.

“I believe it’s standard practice for the industry to let them burn out,” Allan said in comments here. “It’s the only thing they can do.

“The incident was handed over to the local contractor of the turbine and crews left the scene at around 11 o’clock,” Allan said.

In a statement published the day after the fire, EDL says a comprehensive investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.

“We understand there is significant interest in this event and EDL is committed to sharing the learnings and outcomes from this investigation with the industry and stakeholders,” the statement says.

The Cullerin wind farm, which consists of 15 2MW turbines with a nameplate capacity of 30MW, was sold by Origin Energy to EDL Energy in 2016.

The project’s website describes it as the “first significant wind farm” in NSW to be fully operational in the National Electricity Market, after commencing generation in mid-2009.

According to the National Electricity Market the Cullerin Range wind farm was generating about 25 megawatts of power shortly before the fire started.

Wind turbine fires are rare, both globally and in Australia, but given their nature – a sometimes still spinning fiery spectacle high up in the air – can attract an outsized amount of attention.

In the US state of Texas last year a lightning strike set a GE wind turbine ablaze at a project in Foard City, with video footage of the dramatic scene doing the rounds on news sites and social media.