On Friday, a Vestas wind turbine caught fire at NextEra Energy Canada’s Pubnico Point Wind Energy Center in Nova Scotia.
According to NextEra spokesperson Bryan Garner, the fire broke out shortly after 4:00 p.m. and burned out within approximately two hours. A landowner contacted the project’s site manager about the incident, and the manager then contacted the local fire department to “secure the site,” says Garner.
Nobody was injured in the fire, the cause of which is currently under investigation. NextEra will use a crane to “remove and replace various turbine parts,” says Garner, but because of ground conditions, the company cannot do so until later this spring.
Located in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, the 30.6 MW Pubnico Point Wind Energy Center comprises 17 Vestas V80 turbines. All the other turbines are “functioning normally” after the fire, notes Garner.
The project began commercial operations in 2005 and was acquired by NextEra Energy Canada in 2008, when Creststreet Power & Income Fund sold the project to FPL Energy, which changed its name to NextEra Energy Resources in 2009.
