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Three giant wind turbine blades, measuring 61 meters and weighing 126 tons, fell from the ship while carrying out scheduled maintenance

Written by Flavia Marinho
Published 25/10/2021 às 10:25
turbine - wind - power plant - renewable energy - solar panels
Ship MPI Adventure / Google

The wind farm that performed scheduled maintenance is composed of 30 wind turbines with a total capacity of 150 MW.

MPI Offshore, an offshore installation services company owned by Van Oord, accidentally knocked three wind turbine blades into the sea last week while carrying out scheduled maintenance at the Ormonde Vattenfall wind farm in the Irish Sea off the UK United.

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According to the incident report from Kingfisher, the jack-up vessel MPI Offshore NA last week berthed alongside the Ormonde B01 wind turbine and knocked over three 61m turbine blades weighing 126 tonnes in total, and an attachment tool. of blade weighing 3000-3100kg overboard.

A video apparently showing the Ormonde incident was shared via social media. See below:

Wind turbine blades, which fell from the ship, were in the water adjacent to the MPI Adventure

A notice to sailors dated October 18 said that: "the blades that fell from the ship were in the water adjacent to the MPI Adventure near the B01 wind turbine generator", and that the debris - fragments of fiberglass and part of the blade – had fractured from a blade, with the potential to reach the shore.

At the time of reporting, the MPI Adventure was still on site, and arrangements were being made for the deployment of marker buoys.

A spokesperson from Vattenfall confirmed on Friday (22nd) to the Offshore Engineer that there was an incident at the wind farm during planned maintenance:

“An incident during planned maintenance at the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm resulted in components falling into the sea. No one was injured, but we alerted the appropriate authorities immediately and launched a full investigation. In addition to determining what happened, our attention is focused on ensuring that any debris at sea or washed ashore is cleaned up as quickly as possible.”

The other wind turbines continue to operate normally

The Offshore Engineer understands that the other turbines continue to operate normally, but that the MPI Adventure is still on site, waiting for a survey to be completed before it can leave.

The company also issued an environmental advisory, asking citizens to report any discoveries of turbine debris.

“They are not dangerous, but it is better not to touch them”, he warned.

The Ormonde offshore wind farm is located in the Irish Sea, 10 kilometers from Barrow-In-Furness. The wind farm was fully commissioned in early 2012. The wind farm comprises 30 repowering wind turbines with a total capacity of 150 MW. The turbines, of 5MW each, cover an area of ​​8,7 km2.

Flavia Marinho

Flavia Marinho is a postgraduate engineer with extensive experience in the onshore and offshore shipbuilding industry. In recent years, she has dedicated herself to writing articles for news websites in the areas of industry, oil and gas, energy, shipbuilding, geopolitics, jobs and courses. Contact her for suggestions, job openings or advertising on our portal.

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