The failure follows only weeks after Vestas signed a deal with a group to supply 140 of the turbines for a 420MW project in Australia, which will be the largest in the southern hemisphere.
Responding to questions at the time questions over whether the turbine had been tested enough for such a large project, Vestas president Ditlev Engel insisted the turbine had been thoroughly tested that he was "very confident" it was ready to be installed on a wind farm of this size.
According to reports, a 6-metre to 7-metre portion of a blade broke off the prototype yesterday. In response, Vestas said it was investigating the reasons but denied it was a design failure.
A Vestas promotional video covering the testing of the V112 turbine
For a common location with an annual average wind speed at hub height of 6.7m/s, a V112-3.0MW, which has a 112-metre rotor diameter, has a 38% greater energy production than a V90-3.0MW with a 90-metre blade. The V112 is designed for both onshore and offshore.
As a result of the incident, Vestas’ shares declined by 5.4%. The decline follows a difficult period for the company, following last month’s quarterly results announcement.
Vestas share prices nosedived by around 20% in the aftermath of the results announcement where it was revealed the company had made a £120million loss over the previous three months.
