Norway to restart wind farm that lost 22-ton Siemens Gamesa blade

Cloudberry Clean Energy ASA

09/08/2024 15:48

OSLO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A Norwegian wind farm that
closed this year when a massive Siemens Gamesa turbine blade
fell off the machinery will partly restart on Monday after a
four-month outage, the plant's owner said on Friday.
    Odal Vind's loss in April of the 72-metre (236 ft) blade
weighing 22 metric tons highlighted the problems confronting
Siemens Energy  ENR1n.DE  after it took full control of Spain's
Siemens Gamesa in what shareholders say was a botched takeover. 
    Odal had already halted many of the farm's 34 turbines due
to damage and inspection needs when the blade from the Siemens
Gamesa 5.0-145 model, part of the turbine maker's 4.X platform,
fell off in April, the two companies said at the time.
    "Initially two turbines will be operational on Monday
following a thorough review and inspection by Siemens Gamesa and
Odal Vind," Cloudberry Clean Energy  CLOUD.OL , which owns a
33.4% stake in the wind farm, said in a statement on Friday.
    "Significant efforts have been made, including the
replacement of several blades on the remaining turbines and
comprehensive repairs," it added.
    It was assumed that 20 turbines will be in production by the
end of August, with a goal of bringing all 34 online by
year-end, Cloudberry said.
    Siemens Gamesa did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
    The other owners of Odal Vind are Akershus Energi with a
33.4% stake and pension fund KLP with 33.2%.

 (Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
 ((terje.solsvik@thomsonreuters.com; +47 918 666 70;))