Wind Turbine Failure

Investigations were undertaken into a claim for a large wind turbine that had suffered catastrophic failure resulting in the complete nacelle head dropping forward.

Many component parts were severely damaged including the yaw drive, low and high-speed shafts, generator and the turbine blades had shattered when they had struck the turbine mast.

The extent of damage was such that the turbine was deemed uneconomical to repair.

A detailed investigation was carried out into establishing causation which identified the bed plate had completely failed.

Further enquiries confirmed that the manufacturers strict safety and maintenance procedures had been intentionally ignored and overridden by the appointed service engineer.

A full recovery was pursued by Insurers from the maintenance engineers PI insurers.