Wind turbine blades fall off in the backyard of insurance giant

All three blades have fallen off a single wind turbine located on the grounds of British insurance company Aviva in Perth, Scotland.

In what has been described by a company spokesperson as an “engineering fault”, local media outlets report that all three turbine blades had simply snapped off and “crashed” to the ground late last week.

Located at Aviva’s Pitheavlis site in Perth, the 77-metre-tall turbine was only made operational 10 months ago, part of a larger renewable energy project including 3,283 solar panels, Tesla Powerpack batteries, and electric vehicle (EV) chargers.

“It’s fantastic to see the new wind turbine in operation,” said Amanda Blanc DBE, group CEO of Aviva, in November of 2024.

“This means our Perth site is now self-generating all of its energy needs, taking Aviva a step closer to our ambition to be Net Zero by 2040.”

Aviva said that its on-site security team had been made aware of the incident shortly before 1:00 in the morning. While no one was injured, the proximity of the turbine and the subsequent wreckage of the turbine blades to a nearby public footpath was raised concerns.

Steve MacDougall, a photographer for The Courier, visited the scene on Friday morning.

“I walked up the Buckie Braes footpath and could see at least one blade was all crumpled at the front. There is also debris on the footpath and parts of the sort of insulation from inside the blades. Wiring is hanging out from where the blade is normally.

“There is a lot of security in the woods around the turbine, trying to discourage people from taking pictures.”

A spokesperson for Aviva confirmed that its on-site security team “observed that the turbine arms had detached from the wind turbine shortly before 1am”.

“Thankfully, no one was injured in the incident, and of course, safety remains our top priority,” the spokesperson added.

“The local fire brigade was called to attend the scene to ensure there was no physical or fire risk on the site and was able to establish that there wasn’t.

“From initial investigations, it appears that this is the result of some type of engineering fault.

“The area has been secured, and we are working with the supplier to establish the root cause of this incident, as well as on a plan to repair the turbine and restore it safely to operation.”

The spokesperson added that the wind turbine tower will now be taken down as part of the investigation into what happened “and start developing a plan to restore the turbine to full operation as quickly as possible.”

Local officials already opposed to the turbine have been quick to jump on the story, including Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, who described the incident as “unbelievable” and called for an “urgent inquiry into this shocking incident.”

It is worth remember, however, that even with the seemingly numerous headlines of turbine failures of one sort or another, they nevertheless represent a statistical anomaly compared to the actual number of turbines in operation around the globe.

Still, they happen: See: Turbine blade at newly commissioned wind farm in NSW bent in half by storms

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