Video: Offshore Wind Vessel Drops 126-Tonne Rotor Over the Side

offshore drop — File image courtesy Vattenfall

Last week, a 126-tonne wind turbine rotor assembly and three blades fell into the sea during maintenance at Vattenfall's Ormonde wind farm, an offshore installation in the Irish Sea. A crewmember caught the incident on video and it has been widely shared on social media.

Wind Rotor Hub and Blades breaking off from crane and falling into the ocean at the Ormonde Wind Farm west of Barrow-in-Furness in the Irish Sea pic.twitter.com/OWOaAhkWyW
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The company said that no one was hurt in the incident and that an investigation is under way. A cleanup company has been hired to survey the area, determine where any debris may have drifted and retrieve lost parts. However, rough weather has hampered the salvage effort so far. A jack-up vessel is stuck on scene until a survey is completed in order to ensure that it can safely lower itself down.

Ormonde is located just six miles off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness, UK, and local communities have been alerted to the possibility of floating wreckage. Residents have reported large pieces of flotsam on the shoreline.

Debris from the Ormonde incident (Vattenfall)

"We take environmental protection extremely seriously and are very disappointed that this incident occurred. We are working as hard as we can to get everything cleaned up," a spokesman told BBC. "The debris is not harmful but it's best not to touch it, just to make sure everyone stays accident free."

Over the last few days, an environmental management team has been recovering wreckage from nearby Walney Island, Millom Beach and Haverigg Beach. According to Vattenfall, there is a potential that the tide will carry debris across a wide area.

Ormonde is 49-percent owned by the Swedish pension fund AMF and operated by Vattenfall. It is maintained out of an operations facility at Barrow, and it has supported an estimated 800 UK jobs over its lifespan.

Ormonde was the first project built with 5MW offshore turbines manufactured by Senvion, a now-defunct German firm which declared insolvency in 2019.