Alinta Wind Farm turbine collapses in Walkaway, causing site closure while Iberdrola Energy investigates
16th June 2022
By Jessica Moroney, Geraldton Guardian
A collapsed turbine at a Walkaway wind farm has resulted in operations shutting down at the site, while maintenance contractors investigate the incident.
The wind power station, Alinta Wind Farm, is operated by one of Australia’s largest renewable energy assets, Iberdrola Energy.
In a statement, Iberdrola Australia said Turbine 43 collapsed on private agricultural land on Wednesday, June 8 about 8.30am about 35km south-east of Geraldton.
The company described the incident as “a major failure”, stating the local landholders and their representatives were promptly notified of the collapse.
“At this stage it appears that private property damage is limited to a fence dividing two paddocks along with a portion of a recently planted canola crop,” it stated.
The Walkaway wind farm off Nangetty-Walkaway Road has shut off all operations while the cause of the fallen turbine is examined.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the area has been secured, the wind farm has been shut down, and we are currently working with the operations and maintenance contractor, Vestas, to determine the cause of the failure,” Iberdrola Australia said.
An anonymous resident who observed the tower said he was concerned in regard to safety risks and the fallen wind turbines were “a known issue”.
There were no known injuries to people or wildlife reported to the company.
IBERDROLA’S SAFETY RECORD IN QUESTION
12th September 2012
By Miriam Raftery
Source: https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/iberdrola%E2%80%99s-safety-record-question
An extract from above linked article. ‘… a look at the history of turbine collapses, serious injury, fires, safety violations and at least one death linked to Iberdrola facilities raise serious concerns about the company’s track record’.
DeFrock 