Wind turbine collapses in high winds at Ravne 1 wind farm, Pag island

One of seven wind turbines at the Ravne 1 wind farm on the island of Pag, Croatia, collapsed after the island was hit by a strong north-easterly bura wind reported to be blowing at around 100 kilometres per hour. The turbine, described as 50 metres high and weighing 35 tonnes, came down and it is assumed that one blade broke first, with the 25 metre blade reported to have been thrown some hundred metres away by centrifugal force. The loss of the blade is thought to have unbalanced the machine while the other two blades were still rotating, leading to the collapse. The operator, Vjetroelektrane Pag, said the exact cause was yet to be determined. The other turbines at the site were reported undamaged and damage was put at EUR 600,000. The wind farm, commissioned in 2004 and described as Croatia's first commercial wind farm, has a capacity of 5.95 MW and comprises seven Vestas 850 kW turbines. It is owned by Adria Wind Power. No injuries were mentioned in reporting.

High local winds coincided with the failure, and an initial blade failure is assumed by local media and the broadcaster HRT to have caused an imbalance that led to the collapse. Vjetroelektrane Pag, the company in charge of the wind farm, said the cause was still to be determined, and no formal investigation findings are reported. The operator noted that such weather is not unusual for Pag.

1. Turbines sited in areas prone to strong, recurring local wind events should have blade and structural designs and inspection regimes validated against those conditions.
2. A single blade failure can escalate into a full structural collapse through rotor imbalance, which supports the value of vibration and imbalance detection able to trigger automatic shutdown.
3. After a single-unit failure, blades and structural components on sister turbines at the same site should be inspected to rule out a common cause.

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