Turbine components dropped into sea at Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm

During a major component swap at the Ormonde offshore wind farm in the United Kingdom, a hub, three 61-meter blades, and a blade clamping tool fell into the sea, with the majority of the parts and tools currently resting on the seafloor with debris from one shattered blade believed to be on the sea surface.

When the parts fell into the water, the MPI Adventure jack-up vessel was positioned beside the wind turbine B01, adjacent to the vessel and close to the B01 turbine.

The hub, which contained three-pitch motors, batteries, four electrical cabinets, grease pumps, and other components, was also dropped, together with the three turbine blades weighing 126 tonnes and the blade clamping tool weighing roughly 3 tonnes. One of the blades has split, and debris will most certainly reach the shore.

Work on cleaning up the material is currently underway, according to Vattenfall, and local residents have been informed of the floating debris that is likely to wash up on the beaches. Glass fiber particles and blade pieces make up the majority of the waste.

According to Vattenfall, no injuries or damage to Van Oord's vessel were recorded during the incident, and the vessel is still on the site, with an inquiry into the reason of the incident underway.

“An incident during planned maintenance at Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm resulted in components falling into the sea. No-one was injured, but we alerted the relevant authorities immediately and we have launched a full investigation,” a spokesperson for the company stated.

“In addition to determining what happened, our attention is focused on ensuring that any debris in the sea or washing up onshore is cleaned up as quickly as possible.”

Van Oord-owned MPI Offshore is providing jack-up and associated lifting services for primary component exchanges across Vattenfall's portfolio of offshore wind farms under a four-year Operations & Maintenance (O&M) contract with a one-year extension option.

The 150 MW Ormonde wind farm, off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness, is made up of 30 Senvion (REpower) 5 MW wind turbines that have been providing green power since 2012.

Vattenfall partnered with AMF, a Swedish pension fund, on the Ormonde wind farm in 2015. AMF received a 49 percent stake in the project, but Vattenfall remained the largest shareholder and continued to operate the wind farm.

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