Faulty blade causes turbine collapse at Chatham-Kent wind farm

In January 2018, a wind turbine at the Raleigh wind facility in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, snapped in half and collapsed. The site operator, TerraForm, said the failure was caused by a single faulty blade. Following the collapse, the company halted operation of all 70 turbines at the facility for nearly two months to carry out safety inspections across the fleet. TerraForm's first quarter results stated the incident cost the company about $6 million in cash that would otherwise have been distributed to shareholders. The company said its subsequent investigation found no similar issues with the remaining turbines before returning the wind farm to service.

A single faulty blade was identified by the operator as the cause of the turbine failure, prompting a precautionary fleet-wide inspection of all 70 turbines at the site.

1. A single component defect can force a lengthy, costly shutdown of an entire wind farm as a precaution.
2. Fleet-wide inspection after any single turbine failure helps confirm whether a defect is isolated or systemic.
3. Financial exposure from unplanned outages should be factored into risk planning for wind assets, including impact on shareholder distributions.

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