Vestas turbine collapses in high winds at Loughderryduff wind farm, Donegal

A Vestas V52-850kW wind turbine at the Loughderryduff wind farm, near Ardara and Glenties in County Donegal, collapsed at approximately 17:00 on 21 March 2013 during what Vestas described as very high winds, reported at around 25 m/s (56mph). Wreckage was strewn over a wide area. No one was injured. Vestas, the turbine manufacturer, confirmed the collapse and said the remaining eight V52-850kW turbines at the site were shut down as a precaution while its technicians attended, and that the situation was under control. Vestas said a thorough investigation would be conducted with an independent third party to establish the root cause, and that it could not speculate on the cause until that was complete. The site is owned by North West Wind Limited. Local people noted that the collapsed turbine stood on a flat plain about 50m above sea level, lower than other turbines proposed nearby.

Wind speeds of approximately 25 m/s (56mph) were reported at the time of the collapse. The root cause had not been established at the time of reporting and was the subject of a pending investigation by Vestas with an independent third party.

1. Structural collapse of a single turbine during a high wind event should trigger a review of structural and wind loading assumptions across the fleet, even before the cause is known.
2. Following any single turbine failure, precautionary shutdown of co-located turbines of the same model is a reasonable immediate risk control.
3. Independent third-party investigation of structural failures supports transparent root cause determination and helps other operators of the same turbine model assess their own exposure.

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