Worker injured as GE wind turbine collapses in Maranhao, Brazil

What happened

A GE 2.72-116 wind turbine collapsed at Omega Energia's Delta VI wind project in Maranhao, north-east Brazil, on 3 September 2019. Three GE employees were on site at the time of the collapse and one worker was injured, receiving medical treatment afterwards. GE Renewable Energy confirmed the incident and said it was working to determine the root cause. The collapse was the fifth involving GE turbines that year, following earlier collapses in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nebraska and another site in Pernambuco, Brazil.

No injuries had been reported in the previous four incidents. GE stated it was too early to speculate on the cause of this latest collapse but said teams were in place to investigate and resolve the issue, drawing on lessons from the earlier failures, to ensure safe and reliable turbine operation across its fleet.

Contributing factors

The incident followed a pattern of four earlier GE turbine collapses in 2019, most involving the manufacturer's 2MW platform, though a specific root cause for the Brazil collapse had not been confirmed at the time of reporting.

Lessons learned

1. Five GE turbine collapses in one year across sites call for fleet-wide structural checks rather than site-by-site fixes.
2. Teams must draw on prior failure data quickly when a platform shows repeated collapses.
3. Site access rules need review once a turbine model records multiple collapses in a short period.

More lessons on structural integrity and turbines, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

• Root cause of the collapse
• Turbine age and service history
• Length of downtime
• Cost of repairs and lost output

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

Windpower Monthly (windpowermonthly.com)