Scroby Sands wind turbine blaze off Norfolk coast self kills

August 17, 2023: On Tuesday, an offshore wind turbine in the North Sea caught fire, with all personnel evacuated and accounted for.

The turbine is part of the Scroby Sands Offshore Wind Farm, which has a capacity of 60 megawatts.

Situated on a sandbank off Great Yarmouth in England, the facility has 30 turbines and was designated in 2004. It is owned and operated by RWE Offshore Wind.

On Tuesday, a Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said: “HM Coastguard has been monitoring a wind turbine on fire at the Scroby Sands Wind Farm today off the coast of Great Yarmouth.”

“The alarm was raised at about 10.50 am, and all personnel working at the site have been evacuated by the operating company and are accounted for,” the spokesperson added.

The turbine at Scroby Sands is no longer alight, and there was no requirement for search and rescue units to be deployed. It is not unheard of for wind turbines to catch fire, and several similar incidents have been reported in the past few years.

The U.K. is a major player in offshore wind and home to several large-scale projects, including the fully operational Hornsea 2 and the under-construction Dogger Bank Wind Farm.

According to researchers at Imperial College London, wind turbines provided 32.4% of Britain’s electricity in the first three months of the year.

On Tuesday afternoon, but had yet to receive a response ahead of this story’s publication. The RWE representative’s statement, “An incident occurred which led to a fire in the turbine nacelle, the enclosure at the top of the tower which houses the generating components.”

“Emergency services were contacted directly, and the Coastguard was made aware. They are monitoring the location and informing on a potential 500-metre regulation zone being enforced around the affected turbine.”

“We would ask people to keep away from the site as assessments are ongoing.”