Wind turbine blade falls onto farmland at Biglow Canyon

What happened

A report dated 3 October 2026 said that on 1 February a blade described as 11 storeys high broke off a turbine at the Biglow Canyon wind farm in Sherman County, Oregon, and fell into a field. The report does not give the year of that date or the cause. It said PGE stopped the turbines for a time and, after inspections, began returning them to service in stages. People farming on the site were reported to have raised safety concerns.

Contributing factors

Not reported.

Lessons learned

1. Where farming continues under turbines, a blade leaving the rotor can put people on the ground at risk, so exclusion and notification arrangements should be ready before a failure.
2. A detached blade should lead to a shutdown and inspection before turbines are returned to service.
3. A staged return after inspection limits the chance that a similar defect remains in service.

Source

egealternatif.com