Nacelle fire and blade loss at Endeavor I wind farm, Osceola County, Iowa
June 2017Published 15 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- Where
- Endeavor I Wind Energy Center, Osceola County, Iowa
- Owner
- NextEra Energy
- What
- Nacelle fire on wind turbine with blades falling over hours
- Injuries
- None reported
- Cause
- Under investigation
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Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Clipper, NextEra Energy
What happened
A wind turbine caught fire in the early hours of a Monday in June 2017 at the Endeavor I Wind Energy Center in Osceola County, Iowa. The fire began in the nacelle, where the generator and associated equipment are housed. Blades detached and fell to the ground over several hours, with the first reported to have fallen around 7:30am, a second around 8:00am and the third around 9:20am. The initial call was made at about 4:30am and the local fire department attended, with reporting indicating the decision was taken to let the fire burn itself out rather than fight it directly.
No injuries were reported. The owner, NextEra Energy, said it saw the turbine go offline immediately through round-the-clock monitoring and that only this one turbine out of 60 on the site was affected, with the rest of the wind farm continuing to generate.
Contributing factors
A local report said the cause was believed to be a mechanical malfunction, but the owner said the exact cause remained under investigation and that it would work with the turbine manufacturer to identify the cause and replacement parts. The turbine was described as a 2.5 MW Clipper unit at a site that began operation in 2008.
Lessons learned
- Round the clock remote monitoring of a wind turbine fleet detects nacelle fires at once and limits response delays.
- A nacelle fire at hub height on a Clipper unit may have to be left to burn out, so an exclusion zone for falling blades must be set early.
- Root cause work with the turbine manufacturer after a mechanical malfunction helps decide if the fault is isolated or fleet wide.
More lessons on structural integrity and turbines, electrical protection and isolation, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- Exact cause of the mechanical malfunction
- Downtime and repair cost for the turbine
- Age and service history of the Clipper unit
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Source
Published 2026-09-15. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
