The collapse of a wind turbine in Victoria‘s south-west following strong gusts in the region has ignited calls for a statewide safety audit.
Locals first spotted the fallen wind turbine early yesterday at Berrybank Wind Farm, around 80km south-west of Geelong, with its blades broken on the ground.
Nobody was injured in the collapse and the site has been temporarily closed.
It appears the turbine was toppled in the wind.
The Bureau of Meteorology recorded wind gusts topping 60km/h on Monday night.
The wind turbines at this location stand at 112m tall and Berrybank has 26 turbines across 5000 hectares of land.
WorkSafe Victoria has been notified of the incident.
“WorkSafe inspectors have responded and will determine whether further action is required,” a spokesperson said.
Vestas, the service and maintenance provider at the wind farm, told 9news.com.au in a statement that storms may have caused the damage.
“A preliminary investigation is focusing on lightning strikes in the area during severe storms on Monday 3 February, which caused damage across the state. This is currently viewed as an isolated incident,” a spokesperson said.
“We are working with WorkSafe Victoria and Energy Safe Victoria. An incident management team has been formed, and site staff will be undertaking a detailed assessment of all wind turbines at Berrybank Stage One and Stage Two.
“As a precaution, the remaining wind turbines at Berrybank Stage One and Stage Two have been temporarily paused, while the project is safely secured and the assessment is carried out.”
It’s not known when the wind turbines will be back operating.
Naturgy, the Spanish company that runs Berrybank Windfarm, said an investigation is under way to determine the root cause of the issue.
Calls for audit into several wind farm incidents
Yesterday, the Golden Plains Wind Farm revealed parts of a wind turbine had fallen to the ground following stormy weather on Sunday.
The Berrybank incident is the third of its kind in just over three months, leading the state opposition to call for an urgent review of Victoria’s wind farms.
“This is not good enough, it’s a brand new wind farm, it’s only been up 18 months,” shadow planning minister Richard Riordan said.
“It’s inexplicable as to why it’s collapsed.
“There are now 2500 wind turbines across western Victoria. They’ve caught fire, they’ve collapsed, propellers are falling and shrapnel is flying off them.
“It’s not good enough and we need to understand why.”
Premier Jacinta Allan said the opposition’s attacks were instead about the state’s energy transition.
“We know there are wind farms around the country, around the world, that operate safely,” Allan said.
“This is not about the safety of wind farms, this is about attacking the renewable energy transition from the Liberal Party.
“This is form. This is a pattern of behaviour.”
