A Nordex spokesperson said: “A root cause analysis investigation determined that a technical issue, beginning in an uninterruptible power supply cabinet for one of the blades, triggered a rapid succession of events. unprecedented.
“This disabled the main power and backup power to each blade of the pitch system. As a result, all three wind turbine blades were left without power, resulting in a fixed state.
“The wind speed conditions that day increased, putting the wind turbine into overspeed until it collapsed.”
Residents living near the wind farm recounted their shock at the time of the collapse. The incident occurred the same week Storms Dudley and Eunice caused chaos across the UK. Winds of 50 mph are described on the Beaufort scale as a “strong gale”.
Lydia Stephens, who lives near the wind turbines, asked, “How the hell can a wind turbine fall? Villager Ricky Williams described it as “a clap like early morning thunder”.
A local resident said: “It was about 7am and quite dark. My wife has stables about half a mile from the wind farm. She said she heard strange pulsing noises and then heard the crash about 30 minutes later.”
Residents likely to be ‘very worried’ about safety
The 10-turbine Pant y Wal wind farm opened in 2013 at a cost of £20million, generating enough power for 18,000 homes – until one collapsed.
The incident has raised safety concerns over other wind turbines in the Welsh Valleys, prompting Nordex to inspect all remaining wind turbines at Pant y Wal.
Speaking at the time, Rhodri Williams – an anti-wind campaigner who is part of Stop Y Bryn Onshore Wind Farm, which straddles Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot – said: “You can imagine that if any of those- it’s collapsing, it’s not going to be too far from people’s houses.
“We are pushing for the whole proposal to be dropped, if not suspended, until a full independent investigation has taken place so that we know the causes,” referring to the Pant y Wal collapse.
He added: “Residents are going to be very worried now about the dangers of these turbines.”
But the company concluded that any likelihood of human injury was considered low and no further action was taken at the farm.
He added: “Temporary measures are being implemented to further reduce the likelihood. A permanent solution is being developed to mitigate the residual likelihood.”