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MHI Vestas confirms turbine fire fault

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 03/11/2017 MHI Vestas
Aske BlondeFollowing an independent investigation, MHI Vestas has confirmed the fault behind an incident which led to one of its 9.5MW turbines catching fire at the Danish test centre in Østerild.

MHI Vestas stated that the investigation, conducted by an independent investigator, has concluded that the fire was caused by a faulty component that was damaged during installation within the prototype’s converter module, and that the procedure was unique to a prototype environment.

The root cause report concluded that the component, a standard industry component, was added solely as part of testing the prototype’s future upgrade to 9.5 MW. MHI Vestas stated that none of its turbines currently in operation or under construction are at risk.

Torben Larsen, MHI Vestas Chief Technology Officer, said: “The incident occurred as a result of testing that was directly related to the turbine’s future upgrade to 9.5 MW. While unfortunate, the situation was handled safely and professionally by our technicians on site.”

The company explained that the Østerild prototype did satisfy the requirements for the 9.5MW type certificate prior to the incident, and that plans for building a new prototype are still being discussed.

Larsen concluded: “Since August, we have been in frequent communication with our customers and have worked tirelessly to find the root cause and implement the right mitigation actions. We are confident that all procedures and processes in relation to this have been thoroughly and properly updated.”

According to MHI Vestas, the V164 platform can reach a capacity of 9.5MW, subject to specific site conditions. With the increased energy production, the company claims it will add greater value for many projects and save on Capital Expenditure costs as fewer machines will be needed to meet the park capacity.  

The 8MW version of the V164 platform is currently in use at the 258MW Burbo Bank Extension wind farm off the coast of the UK.

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