Vestas turbine at 60-MW wind farm off UK catches fire

Image by RWE AG.

A Vestas turbine at RWE AG’s (ETR:RWE) Scroby Sands wind farm off the East Anglian coast, one of the UK’s first commercial offshore parks, burst into flames on Tuesday morning.

One of the wind farm’s 30 Vestas 2-MW machines was spotted to be burning and an alarm was raised with HM Coastguard at 1050 BST. A video of the ablaze turbine was shared on social media shortly thereafter.

A spokesperson for RWE has told the BBC that no one has been injured and the fire has extinguished by itself. According to the project owner, the flames burst following an incident in the turbine nacelle. Coastguard was monitoring the area and advising on a potential 500-metre (1,640-ft) restriction zone.

RWE has said it expects to bring the plant back online on Wednesday. An investigation has been initiated already.

Located 1.5 miles (2.5km) in shallow waters off the coast of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, Scroby Sands has been generating power since 2004. The plant, operated by RWE Offshore Wind GmbH, is able to power over 48,000 households annually.

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