Investigations still ongoing into ‘root cause’ of turbine blade issue
VIKING wind farm developer SSE Renewables says investigations are still continuing into an incident late last month which saw a turbine blade come apart.
A spokesperson said access to the turbine remains restricted.
An SSE Renewables spokesperson said: “Following the blade failure at Viking Wind Farm on 30 October 2024 we are continuing to work closely with turbine manufacturer and maintenance service partner Vestas to investigate the root cause of the incident and make arrangements for the safe removal and replacement of the damaged blade.
“Access to the turbine and the immediate surrounding area remains restricted since the original incident, and pending removal and replacement of the damaged blade.
“Ongoing wind generation at Viking Wind Farm has been unaffected, and the rest of the wind farm remains operational.”
Photos taken over the incident showed pieces of white turbine blade lying on the hillside.
The 103-turbine wind farm went live earlier this year.
Meanwhile figures show that SSE Renewables has taken in around £930,000 so far this month in constraint payments for the wind farm.
Constraint payments are made by the National Grid when the energy being produced in one part of the country cannot get to another because there is not the capacity to carry it.
The National Grid said it is “like paying road users to temporarily stay put, instead of building more motorways which will rarely be used”.
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