Ocotillo wind turbine collapses
OCOTILLO — On Monday morning one of the massive wind turbines located south of Highway 98 near Ocotillo collapsed.
A representative from Pattern Energy, the developer who owns the Ocotillo project, said on Tuesday morning no injuries were reported after wind turbine 126 collapsed while the cause of the incident is under investigation.
“On November 21, 2016, one of the turbines at the Ocotillo Wind facility fell within the designated setback zone surrounding the turbine’s base … We are working closely with the turbine manufacturer, Siemens, to identify the root cause of the failure and a full investigation is currently underway. Relevant authorities have also been notified,” Pattern Energy said in a statement. “Our first priority is the safety of our employees, contractors, neighbors and the environment. We are taking this issue very seriously and will communicate more information as it becomes available.”
Pattern Energy didn’t elaborate on the possible cause of the structural failure of the turbine nor what are the next steps the company will take regarding investigation of incident and site cleanup. Although a local resident believes that all turbines were shut down after the incident, Pattern Energy didn’t provide any information about it.
The project sits on approximately 12,500 acres of public land almost entirely on federal land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The agency did not respond to request for comment.
The Ocotillo Wind Project was completed and became operational in 2013. It is composed of 112 wind turbines manufactured by German company Siemens and generates 265 megawatts of energy that is sent to San Diego Gas & Electric. Each turbine is estimated to produce 2.3 megawatts of energy.
“(On Monday) we became aware of a situation involving a single wind turbine at the Ocotillo wind farm in California. The tower of a SWT-2.3-108 wind turbine fell within the designated setback zone surrounding the turbine’s base. There were no injuries to personnel and a full investigation is underway to determine the root cause of this incident,” said a Siemens representative in a statement.
Although wind energy experts say this incidents are usually isolated and extremely rare, this isn’t the first time in which the structural integrity of wind turbines in Ocotillo has been compromised, in May 2013 a blade from one of the turbines fell off overnight just a few months after the project was commercially operational. Another Siemens wind turbine lost a blade in Iowa just a month earlier.
According to Wind Power Monthly, Siemens conducted an investigation on both incidents and determined in July 2013 that the root of both incidents was not due to design flaws but rather an adhesive bonding failure.
More recently, another Siemens wind turbine was also compromised after the nacelle along with hub and blades fell off in a wind farm in Hawaii. The incident in Ocotillo is the only recorded full collapse of a turbine that has been reported.