Last weekend, a GE turbine collapsed at NextEra Energy Resources’ Casa Mesa wind farm in New Mexico.
Bryan Garner, NextEra’s director of communications, tells North American Windpower that NextEra, which monitors its sites remotely 24/7, noticed that one of the project’s turbines “was not operating properly” on Saturday, Feb. 16. The turbine failure, which happened at noon, did not cause any injuries or damage to property, Garner notes.
All of the other 20 turbines at the facility are “operating normally,” according to Garner. In addition, NextEra has been in contact with the project’s landowner and the local sheriff’s office and has “safely secured the site.”
In a statement, GE Renewable Energy confirms, “Recently, a GE turbine collapse was reported at the Casa Mesa wind farm in New Mexico.” GE did not specify which model of turbine.
“There were no injuries, and we believe this to be an isolated incident,” says GE. “We have a team on-site working closely with the wind farm operator to determine the root cause of this incident.”
Garner echoes that NextEra, which puts safety as its “top priority,” is working with GE to “investigate the incident and try to determine what’s caused the failure.”
Located in De Baca and Quay counties, the 50.9 MW Casa Mesa project came online in late 2018.
Most utility scale wind turbines use 3 radial bladed rotor concept, what is the reason?
The axial flow helical bladed rotor is seen to be cost effective. e.g. US 9,537,371 B2 Jan. 3 2017.
Based on photos it looks like a tower failure, though hard to say for sure.
I would be inclined to evaluate the foundation studs, cyclical issues with grade 75 material.
Hi Randy,
I think the foundation is the foundation.