Operations at the 130MW Sormarkfjellet wind farm in Norway have been halted after a turbine blade partially fell to the ground, energy company Aneo confirmed. The wind farm, located in Osen and Flatanger, was closed following the incident, with no turbines currently operating.
An Aneo spokesperson reported that a series of alarms went off in the control room on Saturday afternoon. “We sent a team out to carry out a visual inspection and it was clear that one blade has sustained a lot of damage and partially fallen to the ground,” the spokesperson said. Due to adverse weather conditions, Aneo decided to suspend further investigations and closed the site to both employees and the public.
The spokesperson added, “Because of the weather conditions we do not want to send out more employees to further investigate so we have closed the wind farm to the public and all employees. No turbines are operating at the moment and we will provide more information when we have it.”
Aneo plans to use drones for further visual inspections as soon as weather conditions permit, although no specific timeline has been set for this. Vestas, the manufacturer of the turbines, has been approached for comment on the incident.
This is not the first issue at the wind farm. In late January, another turbine was damaged during a storm, and Aneo confirmed that the turbine is still not operational. There is no current timeline for repairs to that unit either.
The Sormarkfjellet wind farm, equipped with Vestas V117 turbines, began operations in 2021. With an installed capacity of 130MW, it produces around 440GWh of electricity annually, enough to power approximately 29,300 households.
