Huge 300ft tall turbine crashes to the ground at Welsh wind farm 

A huge 300ft wind turbine collapsed at a wind farm near Gilfach Goch.

Photos taken at the Pant Y Wal wind farm on Monday morning (February 14) show the huge turbine lying on the ground, separated from its base with its blades completely destroyed.

The turbine is thought to have crashed to the ground in the early hours of Monday, with some local residents reporting hearing loud noises coming from the wind farm throughout the night.

An investigation is now underway into how it happened.

One local resident said: “It was around 7am and fairly dark. My wife has stables about half a mile from the wind farm. She said she heard odd pulsing noises and then heard the crash about 30 minutes later.”

Another resident said she thought was it was thunder.

A spokeswoman for wind turbine manufacturers Nordex said: “Unfortunately an incident occurred at the Pant Y Wal wind farm in Wales. On Monday, a N90/2500 turbine collapsed. No persons were injured. The only material damage that has occurred as a result of the incident is to the turbine itself.

“All necessary safety measures have been implemented immediately after the incident.

“A team of local Nordex specialists with experts from Nordex main office are currently investigating the root cause of the incident together with the wind farm owner. As yet, no reliable statement can be made as to the underlying cause of the collapse.”

There are 29 similar turbines at the Pant Y Wal wind farm, 21 of which have been in operation since end of 2013, including the collapsed turbine.

It comes as two huge storms are set to batter the UK later this week, with amber and yellow warnings now in place for the north of Wales on Wednesday and Thursday.

Storm Dudley is expected to affect the UK on Wednesday night and Thursday, bringing a period of very strong and disruptive winds, while Storm Eunice is likely to hit on Friday, leading to more very strong winds that could cause significant disruption.

Wales could be hit by winds of up to 80mph and there is a warning that there could even be blizzards on high ground in north Wales, all thanks to a powerful jet stream fuelling rapidly deepening areas of low pressure.

A Met Office yellow wind warning for the whole of Wales has been issued for midnight on Thursday until 9pm on Friday, and says: “Extremely strong winds may develop over southwest England early on Friday, before spreading north and east during the morning.

“It is not yet clear where within the warning area the strongest winds will be but gusts of 60-70 mph are possible over a reasonably large area with a small chance of a brief period of gusts reaching 80mph even inland. Coastal winds are likely to be the strongest.

“In addition to the wind, there is the potential for a period of snow and perhaps blizzard conditions, most likely over northern England, parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and north Wales. However, this is very dependant on the track of the weather system and most places will see heavy rain instead.”

[Photos]