Turbine Blade Blocking Shipping Routes In German North Sea
A blade from a Vestas V236-15 MW wind turbine, one of the largest offshore wind turbines ever built, broke loose on July 22 during the construction of EnBW's 960-megawatt He Dreiht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea, approximately 85 kilometers northwest of the island of Borkum.
The blade detached from its turbine, broke apart and drifted into busy shipping lanes before German Federal Police were able to recover the pieces on July 27 and tow them to the port of Cuxhaven. No injuries occurred.
Recharge News reported Friday that EnBW has partially suspended certain activities at the construction site as a precautionary measure, specifically, work on the affected turbine and on blades from the same production batch has been paused pending investigation.
EnBW Deputy CEO Thomas Kustere told analysts the basic commissioning of the wind farm is continuing and the project remains on track for summer completion.
The He Dreiht project is notable, its 64 Vestas V236 turbines are the flagship of offshore wind power, with each rated at 15 megawatts.
When complete, the project will be one of the largest offshore wind farms operating in the world.
The blade failure is the second time Vestas has had a blade break off one of its turbines at sea, the first was at an RWE wind farm in the UK North Sea in January 2024. Vestas and EnBW are investigating the cause jointly.
