Ørsted calls for no-sail zones following wind turbine incident in Kattegat

Danish offshore wind developer Ørsted has called on authorities to enforce no-sail zones near some of the company’s offshore wind farms following a recent incident involving a wind turbine.

On Wednesday, April 6, Ørsted said a turbine at the 400MW Anholt wind farm in the Kattegat suffered a catastrophic failure, resulting in a rotor and three turbine blades separating from the main structure and falling into the sea.

Ørsted said the incident did not result in any injuries. However, as a safety precaution, the company requested relevant authorities to establish no-sail zones at other offshore sites where there are wind turbines similar to the one that suffered the said failure.

The Anholt offshore wind farm has 111 examples of the 3.6MW wind turbine manufactured by Siemens Gamesa. Ørsted’s other offshore wind farms that have the same type of turbine include another one in Denmark, one in Germany, and six in the UK.

Ørsted said that it is investigating the incident together with Siemens Gamesa. The company also assured that the Anholt wind farm continues to operate as normal and customers will not be affected.