A few days ago a wind turbine collapsed in Haltern am See. The operator of a nearby wind farm is now reacting – and taking its wind turbines off the grid.
Millions in damage in North Rhine-Westphalia: an almost 240 meter high wind turbine collapsed near Haltern am See. (Source: dpa)
Of the Energy company RWE shut down its Jüchen A 44n wind farm after the collapse of another operator’s wind turbine weighing several hundred tons in Haltern am See. The six wind turbines from Nordex are of the same design as the plant in Haltern that collapsed on Wednesday evening, RWE announced on Friday.
“Although the exact cause of the damage in Haltern has not yet been clarified, RWE and the manufacturer of the wind farm immediately cordoned off the site in Jüchen”, it said.
The Nordex share was at times over four percent in the red on Friday. Nordex put the damage in Haltern at a mid-single-digit million amount. “As a preventive measure, we have decided to temporarily shut down all turbines with the same configuration as in Haltern, as long as we have no knowledge of the cause of the accident there,” explained Nordex.
After the wind turbine collapsed: RWE shuts down turbines in Jüchen
The operators were informed about this immediately. In this respect, the manufacturer supported RWE’s decision to shut down the turbines in Jüchen as a precaution. In Germany, 18 turbines are in operation with an identical turbine configuration as in Haltern, and five more are in the process of being erected or commissioned.
According to RWE, the Jüchen wind farm is in the commissioning phase and should be completely handed over by the manufacturer to RWE and the partners at the end of this year. As early as August, RWE discovered damage to the tower of one of the systems, immediately shut it down as a precaution and initiated appropriate safety measures.