OREANDA-NEWS. On March 28, Chubu Electric Power’s Omaezaki Wind Power Station Unit 4 experienced a partial breakage in its blade tip, causing debris to scatter around the wind turbine.

Subsequent investigations determined that the breakage was caused by a lightning strike to the blade tip, which occurred in the early hours of the 28th. As a result, the blade tip was partially damaged but Unit 4 maintained automatic operations after the event, thereby aggravating the damage and scattering debris around the wind turbine.

As a countermeasure for the identified cause, Chubu Electric Power decided to equip wind turbines (11 units in total) with devices that automatically shut down operations when it detects lighting strikes on the turbine equipment.

Meanwhile, reviews are currently underway on how to repair Unit 4’s blade. We plan to restart operations after the fixing is completed.